Rivian Will Adopt the Tesla Charging Standard in 2024
Tesla’s charging network is easily the best one currently owned by a car manufacturer. With major automakers like Ford and GM announcing that they’ll be adopting the Tesla charging standard (called the North American Charging Standard, or NACS for short) starting in 2024, Rivian has now followed suit, and it’s probably not the last.While Rivian does have its own off-road charging infrastructure called the Adventure Network, gaining access to Tesla’s network of over 12,000 chargers will mean its customers gain access to the largest and best-maintained fast-charging network in the US.
Rivian Will Use NACS as of Spring 2024
Starting as early as spring 2024, Rivian will switch its R1T and R1S vehicles to the NACS charge ports by providing an adaptor with each new vehicle. In the future, Rivian vehicles will be fitted with the NACS port from the factory, so they will no longer require an adaptor to use Tesla Superchargers.
The company hasn’t given out much information about how cross-platform charging will work, but the reason for switching to NACS is quite obvious. Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe himself said in an interview that the company prefers the Tesla connector for its compact size and as an opportunity to take advantage of the vast Tesla charging network.
Rivian customers in the United States and Canada will have access to Tesla’s charging network, and this should make charging their EV easy pretty much anywhere around North America. Between the Tesla Supercharger network and Rivian’s own Adventure Network, owners will be in a unique position to have way more charging options than vehicles from any other brand, as they will also be able to charge out in the wilderness.
Rivian has already set plans in motion to install over 3,500 chargers across 600 sites for its Adventure Network. As it continues to expand its charging network, this works in favor of Tesla customers as well, as Scaringe has said that Rivian’s network will be adopting Tesla’s standard plugs as well (so Tesla vehicles will also be compatible with these chargers), opening a significant revenue stream for the company by expanding Tesla owners' charging prospects.
Other Automakers Also Flock to Tesla’s Superchargers
Tesla has also signed deals with FordandGeneral Motors to gain Supercharger access. It will likely continue to work with other automakers to get as many companies to use its network as possible. Building EV charging infrastructure is a long and expensive task, and there’s areason why other companies don’t use Tesla’s open-source charging network, but that seems to be changing.
BTC Power has also announced that it’ll be integrating Tesla’s standard into its chargers, and Hyundai seems like it could be the next manufacturer to switch, having announced that it’ll be looking into ways to make its cars more compatible with the Tesla standard.
Tesla, on the other hand, stands to gain quite a profit from all the extra customers coming to its charging stations. Services and other revenue, which includes Supercharger fees only accounted for less than 10% of Tesla’s revenue in Q1 2023. Tesla owners may not be so pleased by the prospect that the charging stations they use will become more crowded in the future, but the manufacturer is constantly expanding the network, which should help alleviate charger congestion.
Range Anxiety Is Going Away
Tesla and Rivian will both profit from interlinking their charging networks, and the good thing here is that more and more EV drivers are now getting access to an increasing number of quality chargers. This could very well spell the end of range anxiety for EV drivers, especially if you’re driving a vehicle with Supercharger access.
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