Tesla Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Elon Musk advised Japanese carmaker Toyota to join the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Musk was replying to a tweet that talked about the lacklustre performance of Toyota's bZ4X charging system as reported by Business Insider (BI). The bZ4X needed three hours of charging time for a nine-hour journey, the report said.
What is the NACS?
The North American Charging Standard was previously known as a Tesla charging connector. It has been developed by Tesla Inc.
It has been used on all North American market Tesla vehicles since 2012 and was made available for other manufacturers in 2022.
The news assumes significance as two of America's largest carmakers General Motors and Ford Motor Company have announced that they intend to use the NACS Standard in their vehicles in the time to come.
Being a part of the network, manufacturers' vehicles get access to Tesla's Supercharger network of more than 12,000 charging stations across North America.
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Musk also referred to automotive brands that recently decided to let go of the CCS1 (Combined Charging System) connector in favour of the Tesla-designed NACS plug.
Ford was the first car company to announce its intentions to join the coalition. The carmaker announced that its electric vehicles will be able to charge their batteries at Supercharger stations using an adapter beginning in 2024.
Later, in 2025, the Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, and E-Transit will come fitted with the NACS charging ports doing away with the need for an adapter.
General Motors (GM) has also made a similar deal with Tesla. The company said that GM electric vehicles will also integrate their systems with the Supercharger pay system to ensure a seamless experience for GM customers.