With Lucid Motors adopting NACS, the charging standard becomes that much closer to becoming the de facto EV connector for North America. Earlier this year, SAE International — the consortium of engineers that names standards in aerospace, defense, medical, and automotive industries — announced its support for NACS over CCS as the standard for EV charging. Major auto companies like Ford, GM, and Subaru have also pledged to adopt the plug. As more and more vehicles rely on NACS, it makes it more cost-efficient to build more charging stations across the country. It also makes it a more reliable standard that’s less likely to die out, which could eventually happen to CCS as NACS expands.
This is all great news for Tesla, which originally developed NACS for its own EVs, claiming that its simple design makes it an optimal charging plug. Making the connector open source for all vehicles seems to be paying off as a shrewd business move, considering even Tesla’s fiercest competitors — such as Lucid Motors — are now adopting its native plug. Lucid Motors isn’t painting the change as a win for Tesla, however, but instead as a win for the EV industry as a whole. “We believe that a unified charging standard,” stated Rawlinson, “backed by the nationwide rollout of future-ready higher-voltage charging stations, will be a critical step in empowering American consumers to adopt electric vehicles.”
