Polestar moves to Tesla charging standard

Swedish electric car maker Pole Star Thursday said she signed a deal with Tesla This will allow drivers of their electric cars to charge about 12,000 Tesla charging stations in North America from next year.

New Polestars sold in North America will be available standard with a Tesla-designed North American Charging Socket, or NACS, starting in 2025. Existing Polestars owners will be able to charge at Tesla’s Supercharger stations with an adapter starting in mid-2024.

The Polestar deal follows a similar one announced by sister company Volvo Cars on Tuesday. Ford MotorAnd general motors Rivian has also announced similar deals with Tesla in recent weeks.

“We applaud the pioneering work Tesla has done to accelerate the adoption and increased popularity of electric vehicles, and it’s great to see the Supercharger Network delivered in this way,” said CEO Thomas Ingenlath. “This move will significantly increase the adoption rate of electric vehicles in the major automotive region.”

Most electric cars and charging stations other than Tesla EVs in North America use a plug-in design called CCS, which stands for Combined Charging System. Recent studies have found that CCS charging networks have much lower reliability than Tesla’s. Critics have also noted that the CCS quick charge plug is much larger and heavier than the NACS plug, making it difficult for some older or disabled drivers to use.

Tesla EVs can use CCS chargers with an adapter, but currently only Tesla EVs can use Tesla chargers.

Tesla’s plug design was proprietary until November, when the company published technical details of its system and its build Available to other automakers and manufacturers of electric vehicle chargers.

SAE International, an engineering group that publishes standards for the auto industry, said earlier this week that it was in the process of writing public standards for Tesla’s NACS charging plug.