Tesla’s Charging Network Is A Big Deal On Three Continents
Never mind the connector, it’s the charging network, and Tesla is an increasingly dominant player
US-centric car and EV media has been consumed recently with news that Ford, then GM, and now likely Stellantis (or at least the Jeep and Chrysler brands) are going to be installing Tesla charging plugs in their vehicles instead of anything else. Mercedes-Benz is assessing it too. They’ll be gaining seamless access to Tesla’s best-of-breed Superchargers and Destination Chargers.
NACS (North American Charging Standard), the renamed Tesla charging connector, is understandably a big deal in the North American automobile market, and has basically become the de facto standard for the continent, kicking CCS and all the charging vendors adopting it to the side of the road. I’m sure the standards boffins over at the CCS are incensed, but that’s only peripheral to my take on the subject.
But first, a bit of history. In Tesla’s original secret and diabolical Master Plan from 2006, Elon Musk said that Tesla’s focus was to “help expedite the move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar electric economy.” Tesla has never been in the business of competing with other OEMs as they manufacture electric cars, but creating the ecosystem…
