Stellantis, one of the world's largest automotive groups, revealed that it "continues to evaluate" Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS).
This is now a very hot topic after Ford and General Motors announced their switch from the Combined Charging System (CCS1) charging connector to the NACS in North America, starting in 2025 with new all-electric car models. Many of us wonder who might be next to join NACS.
According to Reuters, Stellantis has not made any decision yet:
"At this time, we continue to evaluate the NACS standard and look forward to discussing more in the future," Stellantis said in a statement to Reuters, referring to Tesla's charging design, the North American Charging Standard (NACS).
"Our focus is to provide the customer the best charging experience possible. Our Free2Move Charge brand will offer seamless, simple solutions whether at home or on-the-go through partnerships with charging providers,".
The company is currently in a relatively comfortable position, compared to some of the other OEMs, simply because it has no battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) on the market in North America, focusing heavily on plug-in hybrids (see strong sales results in Q1 2023).
In other words, there is still time to decide before introducing new BEV models (Ram 1500 REV), without worrying about the fast charging solution for the existing BEVs.
Other manufacturers often have a fleet of existing CCS1-compatible BEVs on the roads, and upcoming new models, which are scheduled for market launch in the next few years. Their engagement in BEVs is also stronger.
Nonetheless, Stellantis - through brands such as Chrysler, Jeep, or Ram, is kind of a local player in North America (just like Ford and GM), which means that the adoption of NACS, following larger and more BEV-oriented competitors, would not surprise anyone.
Our guess is that Stellantis will use NACS in its future BEVs, especially if NACS gains momentum in the wider EV industry, but might play undecided a bit to make sure that the NACS solution will become an open standard (reliance on competitors is not an option for OEMs).
