First it was Ford. Then it was GM. Then it was Rivian. This week, another automaker has announced its adoption of the Tesla connector starting in 2025.
“As part of our journey to becoming fully electric by 2030, we want to make life with an electric car as easy as possible,” said Jim Rowan, CEO at Volvo Cars. “One major inhibitor to more people making the shift to electric driving – a key step in making transportation more sustainable – is access to easy and convenient charging infrastructure. Today, with this agreement, we’re taking a major step to remove this threshold for Volvo drivers in the United States, Canada and Mexico.”
Volvo’s software will be updated to support Tesla’s Supercharger network, and there’ll be an adaptor available in 2024 for current cars. Buyers of a 2025 car with the NACS connector will still be able to take advantage of CCS stations with an included adapter.
This obviously makes a ton of sense, as a single connection standard does make sense, and the reliability of CCS stations has been quite suspect for awhile. This makes the Tesla Supercharger network a competitor for more than just Tesla EVs, and should help encourage competitors like Electrify America and EVGo to step up their respective reliability efforts.
Tesla’s NACS connector is also easier to manipulate for people who might have some of their motor functions impaired.
Volvo is this week’s winner of NACS Roulette. Who will make their announcement next?
