In November 2022, Tesla made a public statement calling on charging network operators and other automobile manufacturers to use its connector standard, also known as NACS (North American Charging Standard).
Tesla is absolutely first-rate!
Tesla's fast charging technology is world class. Its booster is small, fast, powerful and easy to use. Besides, they are unrivalled in reliability.
Tesla is the most mature connector in North America. Its charging connectors has been used for more than ten years, with a charging mileage of 2 billion miles for electric vehicles, and provides AC charging and DC charging up to 1 MW in an ultra-thin package.
CCS is not bad either.
At the same time, CCS (Combined Charging System) is also one of several competing charging plug standards for DC fast charging. It can use Combo 1 or Combo 2 connectors, providing up to 350 kilowatts of power. These two connectors are extensions of the IEC 62196 Type 1 and Type 2 connectors, with two additional direct current (DC) contacts to allow high-power DC fast charging.
Who is better at NACS compared to CCS?
The Tesla charging connector has no moving parts, is half the size of the Combined Charging System (CCS) connector, and twice the power of the CCS connector, which is also the only product designed to provide both AC and DC charging in the same package.
Tesla released updated technical specifications of the standard in the past week, and said that it "is actively cooperating with relevant standards bodies to compile Tesla's charging connector into public standard.
"As a pure electrical and mechanical interface independent of use cases and communication protocols, NACS is easy to adopt," Tesla said, pointing out that NACS design and specification documents are available for download.
Tesla also notes that it "has successfully run the North American charging standard continuously for more than 900A using non-liquid-cooled vehicle entrances. This is higher than the CCS license, which is important, because it could mean that the complexity of the charging station operators is reduced.
Research shows that the use of Tesla's super charging station network is the main reason for many people to buy a Tesla, if not the only reason for some Tesla owners to buy.
In addition to the technical advantages of what Tesla now calls the North American Charging Standard (NACS), there is the fact that most electric cars in the United States use Tesla's system - because most electric cars sold in the United States are Tesla. This is about the same as the number of chargers installed. According to the survey, the number of cars in NACS is twice that of CCS, and the number of NACS posts in Tesla's super charging station network is 60% more than that of all CCS-equipped networks.
Network operators plan to add NACS to their chargers, so Tesla owners can charge on other networks without an adapter.
NACS launched its EV Infrastructure Program in 2020. Through this program, NACS has established relationships with organizations that are interested in supporting the installation of electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) in convenience stores. These organizations include those that seek to install and operate their own equipment in the places where NACS member are located, and those that seek to finance the installation or provide technical assistance to promote the installation of such equipment or future verification of stores.
However, NACS also has its inferiority and deficiency. For example:
- CCS is already used in more than 50 passenger car models, while NACS is currently used in 4.
- The number of CCS plugs worldwide has exceeded the number of Tesla Superchargers by 61,000 to 40,000.
- In North America, there are 18,880 CCS connectors compared to 18,405 for Tesla Superchargers.
- There are 178,926 public J1172 connectors compared to 15,529 Tesla Destination Chargers.
- Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lucid, Lotus, Mazda, MAN, Mercedes-Benz, Navistar, Newfoundland, Nikola, Nissan, PSA Groupe, Proterra, Renault, Rivian, Scania, Strandis, Subaru, Suzuki , Tata Motors, Tesla, Toyota, Volvo and Volkswagen have all invested in and agreed to use the CCS standard.
Although from the current situation, NACS and CCS have their own advantages and it is difficult to distinguish which is higher or lower, I still prefer Tesla.
On March 1, at Tesla's Investor Day event, Musk shared Master Plan 3, highlighting Tesla's vision and reviewing previous achievements, while revealing that a new generation of models is coming soon, expected to include about 10 new models and one of them worth $30,000.
Moreover, he also officially announced that Tesla's fifth super factory, Giga Mexico, will be located in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leó n, Mexico, and Giga Mexico will become the first factory to produce the next generation of cars. Based on the company's goal of continuing to closely integrate vehicle design and manufacturing processes, this new factory will undoubtedly become the Tesla's most efficient factory.
In this regard, Deepwater Asset Management, an asset management company, said, "Tesla Investor Day highlights Tesla's extensive leading edge compared with other automakers, which makes me believe that Tesla is still far ahead of other automakers and has a plan for how to significantly increase deliveries."
If the plan is passed, it will certainly further increase the firepower to the momentum of unifying the charging standards of NACS. Let us stay tuned, we will see about that!