Nissan Adopts Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS)

After Ford adopted Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) — basically, it’s Supercharger standard — one of my big questions was whether Nissan would do the same. For one, Nissan was the company that we pushed years ago to go this route, in part because it seemed like the most likely to do so. Also, frankly, Nissan was long committed to and attached to the CHAdeMO fast charging standard, and then finally gave up on it with the Ariya because, frankly, nearly everyone else in the industry had stuck with or switched to the CCS standard. Would Nissan quickly hop from CCS to NACS after barely dipping its toes in the CCS waters? Yes, it would.

The company announced this week that it “has reached an agreement with Tesla to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) beginning in 2025, providing Nissan customers even more choices when it comes to charging their electric vehicle.”

Basically the same as others, in 2024, Nissan will provide an adapter for Ariya owners who have a CCS charging port. Well, actually, in this case, Nissan writes that it will “make available” such an adapter — so it’s not clear if that means free of charge or if the Ariya owner will have to pay for it. In any case, once 2025 hits, new Ariya SUVs should come with the NACS outlet built in. That goes for EV buyers in the USA and Canada. “This will make charging on the Tesla Supercharger network seamless and convenient for drivers, significantly increasing the number of public fast-charging locations at which Nissan EVs can be charged.”

And here’s a typical executive PR statement on the news from Jérémie Papin, chairperson of Nissan Americas: “Adopting the NACS standard underlines Nissan’s commitment to making electric mobility even more accessible as we follow our Ambition 2030 long-term vision of greater electrification. We are happy to provide access to thousands more fast chargers for Nissan EV drivers, adding confidence and convenience when planning long-distance journeys.” Naturally. But in all seriousness, the Tesla Supercharger network will indeed make life much easier for Nissan Ariya customers, and it should stimulate a lot more consumer demand for the Ariya. And with 2,335 sales in the last quarter, the model could use plenty of help. That’s not even on target for 10,000 sales in 2023!

Nissan is aiming for more than 40% of its sales to be fully electric vehicles sales in the USA … by 2030. The Supercharger network will help the company to get there.

Two brand new fully electric models are going to come to market and be assembled at a Nissan factory in Mississippi starting in late 2025. One has to assume they will use the North American Charging Standard from the start.

Featured photo by Kyle Field | CleanTechnica

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