June 20 (Reuters) – Tesla (TSLA.O) racked up a string of wins for its charging technology on Tuesday, culminating in Texas requiring it to require electric vehicle charging companies to include both the Tesla standard and nationally recognized CCS if they wish to being part of a state program to electrify highways using federal dollars.
Earlier in the day, Reuters was the first to report that electric pickup maker Rivian backed Tesla and that charger manufacturer BTC Power would support the standard. Those announcements follow decisions by GM (GM.N) and Ford (FN) to add Tesla charging technology, avoiding the Biden administration’s efforts to make the Combined Charging System (CCS) the dominant charging standard in the United States. make states.
Texas — home to Tesla headquarters and a new car manufacturing complex — is the first state to mandate Tesla’s charging technology, boosting CEO Elon Musk’s hopes of making it the national charging standard.
“The decision by Ford, GM and now Rivian to acquire NACS has changed requirements for Phase 1 of the rollout,” the Texas Department of Transportation said in an email to Reuters on Tuesday, adding that DC fast chargers are needed. to have one CCS and one North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector.
Texas’ decision will put a lot of pressure on other states to adopt Tesla’s NACS, said Lew Cox, director of business development at MD7, which helps companies deploy chargers.
“It will basically make a NACS the new charging standard,” Cox said.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said earlier this year that charging companies must provide the CCS to qualify for up to $7.5 billion in federal funding to build new, high-speed chargers on 7,500 miles (12,070 km) of the nation’s busiest highways .
The Federal Highway Administration acknowledged on Tuesday that the industry is evolving rapidly.
The growth of the country’s EV industry is a sign that government investments are paying off, but policies are always under review, a spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration said.
“Our technical experts are in active discussions with automakers, charger manufacturers and standards bodies to ensure that federal investments continue to support a reliable, convenient and user-friendly charging experience for all drivers,” the spokesperson said.
Federal dollars flow through the states, which have the power to adjust their own guidelines as long as they meet minimum federal standards. States are expected to award the first round of funding in the remainder of the year.
Since the announcements from Ford and GM, leading US charging companies such as ChargePoint and EVgo (EVGO.O) have said they would like to add the same standard to their US chargers.
Other states such as California, Iowa and Michigan are reviewing the changing charging market.
And at least one other state is considering giving applicants bonus points on applications if they include Tesla’s charging ports.
Tesla shares rose 1.2% in extended trading after closing 5.3% on Tuesday.
Tesla said there are about 2,000 Supercharger locations and more than 21,000 Supercharger stalls in the US, representing about 60% of the fast charging plugs operational in the country.
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia and Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Edited by Lisa Shumaker and Sonali Paul