As the US EV industry rushes to embrace Tesla’s charging system, one of the criticisms that we’ve heard is that, whatever Tesla may say, NACS isn’t truly a standard.

Now standards body SAE International has taken a step towards alleviating that problem, announcing that it will standardize the NACS connector in order to ensure that any supplier or manufacturer will be able to use, manufacture or deploy the NACS connector for both EVs and charging stations. 

“The standardization process is the next step to establish a consensus-based approach for maintaining NACS and validating its ability to meet performance and interoperability criteria,” says SAE. “The US Joint Office of Energy and Transportation was instrumental in fostering the SAE-Tesla partnership and expediting plans to standardize NACS.”

“Standardizing the NACS connector will provide certainty, expanded choice, reliability and convenience to manufacturers and suppliers and, most of all, increase access to charging for consumers,” said Frank Menchaca, President of SAE’s Sustainable Mobility Solutions division. (Read a full-length interview with Mr. Menchaca on the topic of charging reliability standards.)

SAE says the new NACS connector standard will be developed on “an expedited timeframe.”  

“These efforts will contribute substantially to SAE’s commitment to secure, clean and connected transportation, accessible to everyone,” said David L. Schutt, CEO, SAE International. “We’re delighted to do our part in aligning the efforts of industry with those of government entities like the Joint Office to advance sustainable mobility on a national level.” 

Source: SAE International