Charging EVs -- WSJ -- June 20, 2023

Locator: 45013EVS. 

Link here.

For charging EVs on the highway, two standards:

• the combined charging system (CCS): funded, promoted / supported by the US government; “someone” wants the CCS monopoly;
  
• Tesla: private.

The linked article is so ... full of crap ...

The thesis of the article: with "every" EV company appearing ready to accept Tesla's supercharger network, it brings confusion to the market."

Confusion? 

Two systems: one run by the same government that brought us the US Post Office and the other system brought to us by the richest man in the universe. And "everyone" that now has an EV prefers the latter system.

Okay.

So.

Here we go.

The lede:

Tesla’s Supercharger network has won another convert.

Electric-vehicle startup Rivian Automotive on Tuesday said it has struck a deal to expand access of Tesla’s fast-chargers to drivers of its vehicles, further cementing the EV leader’s dominance in the U.S. for owners looking to power up. [Current list: GM, Ford, Hyundai. Next up: Stellantis. New: Rivian.]

The deal gives Rivian drivers access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in the U.S. and Canada starting in 2024, using an adapter for Rivian’s R1T and R1S models. Future Rivian models will incorporate Tesla’s charging-port configuration, starting in 2025.

Background:

...most of the chargers now in operation at stations across the U.S. use a separate charging system. Migrating to the one Tesla uses, while it has benefits, could further push the industry away from a universal charging standard that some policy makers say is the best way to encourage EV adoption and avoid confusion, said Eleftheria Kontou, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois who studies EV infrastructure. [Wow, so wrong. Ivory tower thinking.]

Nearly all non-Tesla manufacturers today use a charging standard called the Combined Charging System, or CCS. The U.S. federal government, which has put billions of dollars on the table for building out a highway network, backs CCS. Europe uses a similar CCS standard. Most U.S. automakers rely on a network of third-party charging providers, such as EVgo and ChargePoint.

And who cares about Europe? Folks driving EVs in the states are not shipping them to Europe to drive them on vacation. LOL. What's Europe got to do with this? France? Germany? Comparison with US needed? Hardly think so.

Tesla:Tesla uses a different connector, known as the North American Charging Standard, or NACS. Its Supercharger network includes more than 19,400 fast-chargers in the U.S. at nearly 1,800 locations, according to a U.S. Department of Energy database, and is widely regarded as the most reliable.

While Tesla drivers can buy adapters that allow them to use CCS fast chargers, the reverse—an adapter that lets a CCS driver tap a Tesla charger—isn’t sold today.

"Most of the chargers..." -- it does not matter what system "most of the chargers use," what system most vehicles use is the important data point, and right now, far and away, the most commonly used supercharger system is ... Teslas.

Ah, so now, we see where The WSJ got its bias:

Around a million EVs on the road in the U.S. have CCS connectors, and more are on the way, said Cathy Zoi, chief executive of fast-charging provider EVgo. The company already has Tesla connectors along with CCS connectors at many of its sites, she said.

EVgo.

So much more I could "cut and paste"; so much more I could post, but I have better things to do.