Volvo
- Many car companies say their electric vehicles will be built with the Tesla charging standard starting in 2025.
- It begs the question: Why wouldn't a non-Tesla EV shopper delay their purchase until then?
- Buying a non-Tesla EV now means finding charging stations will get more difficult in a few years.
It's supposed to be a huge advantage to non-Tesla car companies that they're switching to Tesla's charging tech. But experts in the automotive industry say it might be just one example of why car shoppers should hold off on buying an electric vehicle other than a Tesla — at least for the next two years.
Ford, GM, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, and more have said they will build their electric vehicles with Tesla's North American Charging Standard, known as NACS, beginning in 2025 so their customers would have access to Tesla's Supercharger network. The network has long been one of the car company's biggest strengths. If a driver currently owns one of those companies' EVs, they should be able to plug into Tesla charging sites beginning next year, so long as they have an adapter.
Charging companies like Electrify America and other competitors have pledged to add NACS to their existing networks as well. (Until recently, EV makers other than Tesla have used the Combined Charging System, known as CCS.)
With automakers, charging providers, and more moving to Tesla's tech, CCS will be far less common in the coming years.
"This is the risk at any point in time when you buy into a technology that evolves: Your technology feels out of date at best and obsolete at worst," Karl Brauer, an executive analyst at iSeeCars.com, told Insider. "Almost all the people who have EVs, except Tesla owners, are looking at futzing around with adapters for the rest of their ownership or somehow trying to pay to have a new plug system put on their car."
Out of style
The transition away from CCS won't happen overnight — and adapters exist — but why would a car-buyer purchase a new electric vehicle with CCS before then?
For the long average lifespan of a car — not to mention what happens when these cars enter the used market — at most they have two years without NACS dominance.
"If you're about to spend $30, $40, $70, $100,000 and now, all the plugs on these cars except for Teslas are technically obsolete, all going to be replaced in the next one to three years with a new system," Brauer added, "now they all know that in the next year or two, you shouldn't buy a vehicle."
It makes the next few years a particularly unique period in the EV evolution. Over the past decade or so, EV tech stayed mostly the same. The technology in EVs made in the coming decade will be more advanced and stable. But as far the period in between, with prices dropping and the charging shift, some experts say the industry shouldn't be surprised if consumers hold off on their purchases.
That could be a crisis for automakers spending billions of dollars to electrify their lineups now — especially for those with inventory piling up in the short term. It could also cause challenges down the line: Used EVs equipped with CCS might not sell as well as those with NACS once NACS is widespread.
Charging is only one part of the problem
As EV tech gets better overall, including range improvements, faster and bidirectional charging, lower costs, and battery breakthroughs, buyers might wait (or go to Tesla if they feel the company's tech is more future-proof).
"The charging connector is going to be perhaps a significant issue and delays some buyers pulling the trigger on a new EV," Loren McDonald, the CEO of market analysis firm EVAdoption, said. "But I think most of those buyers understand that there are six to 10 other hardware and software advancements that will make that EV better, and when you add it all up, that's maybe a more compelling reason to hold off rather than just the NACS versus CCS connector."
McDonald said he anticipated purchase delays and a near-term uptick in EV leasing.
"The more we see these pricing fluctuations and as well as all these hardware issues, a lot of people are going to realize that leasing is maybe the better way to go," McDonald added, "because it means I can get, in essence, the new iPhone on wheels every three years and I don't have to worry about the residuals, that I have a car that's now technologically obsolete.
"There's this noise unlike we've ever seen before of all these future models that are going to be better, faster, cheaper, more range, et cetera," he said. "I think that's the real issue."
Have you bought an electric vehicle from an automaker that has said it's switching to NACS in the next two years? Are you planning to buy an EV in 2025 once it comes built with NACS? Do you have a tip or opinion to share? Contact this reporter at astjohn@insider.com.