Rivian to use Tesla charging technology in the USA

The US electric car manufacturer Rivian wants to install Tesla charging ports in its future electric cars. In addition, there is support from Texas to establish the North American Charging Standard (NACS) as the charging standard across the US.

First to Rivian: From 2025, vehicles of the R1 model series and the upcoming R2 platform will have NACS charging ports. Until then, Rivian cars can charge at the Tesla Supercharger network via adapters. Rivian plans to provide the latter from 2024. The carmaker has signed an agreement with Tesla.

Rivian is the third manufacturer to install NACS in its electric vehicles for the US market in the future. Previously, Ford and General Motors had already concluded similar agreements with Tesla.

With 12,000 Superchargers in the USA and Canada, Tesla has North America’s most extensive charging network. And to promote the sale of their EVs, manufacturers are keen to ensure that customers can charge quickly and everywhere. Like GM and Ford, Rivian does not want to give up its fast-charging “Rivian Adventure Network”.

“The adoption of the North American Charging Standard will enable our existing and future customers to leverage Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network while we continue to build out our Rivian Adventure Network,” says RJ Scaringe, CEO of Rivian. “We look forward to continuing to find new ways to accelerate EV adoption.”

Tesla released the design of its proprietary Supercharger connector in North America in November 2022 and invited car manufacturers and charging network operators to use Supercharger plugs and sockets in the future to make its system the charging standard in North America.

And now there is support from Texas to do precisely that. The Texas Department of Transportation told Reuters that charging infrastructure companies must implement the NACS connector in addition to the CCS standard required by the US government to be eligible for subsidies in Texas. Therefore, other carmakers will likely follow in the footsteps of Rivian, GM, and Ford.

The US federal government only recently made the CCS fast-charging standard a condition for its charging infrastructure subsidies. Tesla then announced that it would make at least 7,500 of its Superchargers and Destination Chargers “available to all electric vehicles” by the end of 2024 and began equipping Superchargers in the USA with CCS adapters in March.

rivian.com, reuters.com (Texas)