General Motors will follow Ford as the company has decided to adopt it TeslaNorth American charging plug standard. Under this agreement, users of GM electric vehicles will have access to the Tesla Booster network. As GM announces its decision to adopt Tesla’s charging plug standard, three of the top EV vendors in the North American market have now agreed on a charging hardware standard. This agreement was announced by GM’s CEO Mary Barbara and Tesla chief Elon Musk in a Twitter Spaces event.
GM has confirmed that it will equip EVs with connectors based on the design of the Tesla North American Charging Standard from 2025. By 2024, current owners of GM EVs will be able to use 12,000 Tesla fast chargers in North America and adapters will be made available.
Musk said Tesla “isn’t going to do anything to favor Teslasas more rival brands gain access to the Supercharger network. “It will be a level playing field… The most important thing is that we push the electric vehicle revolution forward.”
Last month, CEO of Ford Jim Farley had a similar discussion with Musk on Twitter. Farley announced that the second-best U.S. automaker has reached an agreement with Tesla to give electric vehicle owners access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America by early 2024.
What it means for the North American EV market
This decision has the potential to have one charging hardware standard for the North American market. Investors have also applauded the deal as shares of both companies rose 4% following the announcement. The alliance between the three leading rival US EV manufacturers is also expected to have significant commercial and public policy implications.
The Biden administration also made approval of a rival “combined charging system” (CCS) standard a requirement for companies to qualify for federal grants. These grants will be offered for new charging stations located on 7,500 miles (12,070 km) of national roads. The alliance between Tesla, Ford and GM challenges the White House‘s direction.
In an interview, Minister of Transport Peter Buttigieg said the industry will eventually converge on one system after the Ford-Tesla deal. However, the companies may allow cross use of these adapters.
It is important to note that Tesla, GM and Ford together account for about 70% of current EV sales in the US. The report also notes that different EV charging connectors could be a barrier to wider consumer adoption of electric vehicles.
“I think this is going to be fundamentally great for electric vehicle advancement,” Musk said during the Twitter Spaces conversation with Barra.
“I think it’s all gotten a little bit better,” Barra said.
In an interview, Barra also said that this deal could save GM $400 million.
Why More Companies May Shift To “The Tesla Standard”
According to data from the US Department of Energy, Tesla Superchargers account for approximately 60% of the total fast chargers in the US and Canada.
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“This is pretty big. I saw this as something of a snowball effect of more and more automakers jumping on board and shifting to the Tesla standard,” Consumer Reports senior policy analyst. Chris Harto said.
The alliance between Tesla, GM and Ford also puts pressure on other automakers and independent charging network operators who have adopted the CCS standard.
The move to adopt the Tesla standard could pose a challenge to competing charging station manufacturers who are already setting up their business in the US to make CCS-compliant equipment.
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