According to a report, Kentucky has become the first state to require electric vehicle (EV) charging companies to include Tesla’s charging plug.
This is in order to qualify for federal funds from a state program aimed at electrifying highways.
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The mandate took effect on Friday, with Texas and Washington also planning similar requirements for charging companies to include Tesla’s “North American Charging Standard” (NACS) and the Combined Charging System (CCS) to be eligible for federal funding.
The adoption of Tesla’s charging plug gained traction when Ford announced in May that its future EVs would use Tesla’s charging technology, followed by General Motors and other automakers.
Charging companies such as FreeWire Technologies and Volkswagen’s Electrify America, as well as carmakers like Rivian and Volvo, have also committed to adopting the NACS standard.
SAE International, a standards organization, aims to establish an industry standard configuration for NACS within six months.
Some segments of the EV charging industry have raised concerns and called for more time to test and standardize Tesla’s connectors.
Regardless, it appears that NACS is gaining momentum, particularly in the private sector.
The trend suggests that other states may follow Kentucky’s lead, with California, being Tesla’s birthplace and leading the nation in Tesla and EV sales, potentially considering similar measures.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has mandated that charging companies must have CCS plugs, an international charging standard.
This should help them to become eligible for federal funds allocated for the deployment of 500,000 public EV chargers by 2030 through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI), which offers $5 billion to states.
Kentucky’s request for proposal for its EV charging program specifies that each charging port must have a CCS connector and be capable of charging vehicles with NACS-compliant ports.
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The Texas Department of Transportation and California’s Department of Energy have not provided comments on the matter.
But it is evident that the push for NACS adoption is growing within the industry and may influence future policies and standards across the United States.
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