Rivian, the startup all-electric pickup and SUV builder, has just announced it will incorporate the North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging port, developed by Tesla, in its upcoming vehicles.
Currently, Rivian – like almost every EV in North American, save for Tesla and a couple Japanese vehicles – uses the Combined Charging Port (CCS). But next year, it will offer an NACS adapter to allow its vehicles to take advantage of more than 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations across North America. In 2025, Rivian will build in the NACS port in its R1T pickup and R1S SUV, offering a CCS adapter.
The Irvine, California-based company also says it will continue its Rivian Adventure Network charging plans, which include more than 3,500 fast chargers at more than 600 sites across the US, using 100 per cent renewable energy.
The writing is on the wall for the eventual demise of the CCS charging system. Rivian may be a small player in the EV field, but two Detroit giants – Ford and General Motors – just recently announced they would be doing the same, with all of their EVs using the NACS port by 2025. The fact that all three automakers will offer a CCS adapter (instead of building it in to the vehicles) only means they expect that technology to wither in the next few years.
Read more: GM’s move pretty much seals the dominance
of Tesla Superchargers
You can expect not only to see third-party charging networks incorporate the NACS soon, but also more EV automakers jumping on the Supercharger bandwagon.