The US government announced Friday that electric vehicle charging infrastructures with Tesla standard plugs would qualify for billion dollars in federal subsidies, Reuters reports.
However, they must also feature a CCS (Combined Charging System) connection, which is currently the standard in the US.
Interestingly, this major announcement followed Ford and General Motors’ recent news about adopting Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS).
The report noted that actions upend a charging sector that appeared to be leveraging federal incentives to shift toward the competing CCS connection.
Prior to this government initiative, the industry appeared to be pushing toward the competing CCS connection, supported by significant federal investment. However, this recent move suggests a more open strategy, allowing Tesla’s model chargers to profit from the federal incentives.
It is worth noting that the White House has never before directly associated the Musk-led automaker with its up to $7.5 billion investment in developing high-speed EV chargers not until now.
Analysts insights
Industry analysts estimate that Tesla may earn up to $3 billion from the new Ford and GM agreements by 2030.
White House spokesman Robyn Patterson provided Reuters with some insight on the subject.
“Earlier this year, we developed minimum standards to ensure publicly funded EV charging is accessible, reliable, and affordable for all drivers, and we required interoperability to promote competition.
Those standards give flexibility for adding both CCS and NACS, as long as drivers can count on a minimum of CCS.”
White House spokesperson Robyn Patterson
See Also:
- Adoption of Tesla’s NACS plugs could be difficult for Automakers
- GM secures access to Tesla’s vast Supercharger network
- Ford EVs to have access to Tesla Superchargers in 2024
- Tesla officially opens its first V4 Supercharger for non-Tesla EVs in the Netherlands
- Tesla launches Non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot program in Australia
Indeed, the initiative is a victory for the nationwide EV uptake and a massive boost for the EV charging infrastructure.
