Mercedes-Benz is aligning itself with Ford, General Motors, Rivian, and Volvo as supporters of the "new" American vehicle charging standard. Tesla is successfully fulfilling its goal by transforming its originally proprietary connector into an American charging standard.
Support for Tesla reaches Germany
The German premium vehicle manufacturer becomes the first German automaker to join this initiative, while other traditional European, especially German, manufacturers are still considering support. Volkswagen’s management has acknowledged discussions with Tesla regarding the adoption of the new connector.
Mercedes-Benz has issued a statement outlining its next steps. Connector replacement and production of vehicles with the American NACS socket will commence in two years, in 2025. Vehicle owners will gain access to over 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations across North America starting next year. Concurrently, Mercedes will expand its Charging Network to over 2,500 high-performance chargers, with a goal to achieve this by 2030.
Photo by Mercedes Charging Station
NACS-equipped Cars to Hit the Roads in Two Years
The first high-speed charging station will be available to customers in the final quarter of this year, catering not only to Mercedes-Benz vehicles but also to cars from other brands. To further support the charging infrastructure, the manufacturer will offer both NACS and European CCS connections at its charging locations. As part of the transition, customers will be provided with charging adapters until complete integration into Mercedes-Benz vehicles is achieved.
Tesla can rightfully be proud. With such strong support, it is practically impossible to stop this momentum. Americans are gradually adapting to the modification. Thanks to the US government’s support in unlocking Superchargers to non-Tesla vehicles, the transition to the new connector will be even smoother. At this point, it is only a matter of time before other prominent manufacturers announce the adoption of the connector.
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