According to a press release Issued by GM on July 26, 2023, at 12:00 ET, and condensed here, BMW Group, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz Group, and Stellantis NV will create a charging network joint venture to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles in North America. It will do so by making EV charging more convenient, accessible and reliable. Charging stations will be accessible to all EV customers, offering both Combined Charging System (CCS) and/or North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors. The aim is to install at least 30,000 high-powered chargers in urban and highway locations or to offer a charging station wherever people may choose to live, work and travel. The group’s goal is to build a network that will provide reliability, high-powered charging capability, digital integration, at appealing locations, with various amenities while charging. Each site will be equipped with multiple high-powered DC chargers, making long-distance journeys easier for customers. It will attempt to use renewable energy where ever possible or it will power the charging network solely by renewable energy. The first stations are scheduled to open in the summer of 2024 in the United States and Canada will be considered at some later time.
The venture, which is expected to be established this year, will leverage the Federal and State level funds available for the installation of high-powered charing for customers. These chargers are expected to meet or exceed the spirit and requirements of the U.S. National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program. The joint venture’s goal is to become the leading network of reliable high-powered charging stations in North America.
So here is my take on this.
The press release seemed to be confused or deliberately confusing when talking about chargers, charge locations, charge stations and charge points. It was also confused about whether it would be concentrated in cities and highway locations and/or located in such a way that it would be accessible to everyone with an EV “whenever and wherever they need.” Because of the lack of clarity it leaves the reader to interpret these statements, possibly incorrectly.
I have not come across the term “charge point” very often when reading about chargers and their charger locations. There is a company called ChargePoint that sells EV charging services with chargers emblazoned with their brand name, but outside of that I haven’t come across the term used widely. So when I came across the term in the press release, I at first wasn’t sure what they meant. A charger to me is one charging machine. For DC Fast Charging (DCFC) these can either be chargers that have various different incompatible cables and plugs that are designed to charge one vehicle at a time, or a charger with one or more of a single type of DCFC, such as a plug with either a CHAdeMO, CCD or Tesla (now NACS) plug, designed to charge a single vehicle per plug. So when a bullet point stated. “Targeting to install at least 30,000 high-powered charge points,” I wasn’t sure if what they meant was 30,000 charging locations or 30,000 places where EVs could be plugged in to a charger to charge. Given that Tesla right now has some 17,000 Superchargers and 1,782 Supercharger locations in the United States, I guess “charge points” actually means available places to actually plug in, but I’m not absolutely sure. Like I said, it is confusing.
The next confusing issue for me was the use of the word, “station.” The word from my extensive reading about them can be used interchangeably with meaning a charger or a charge machine with multiple plugs and sometimes with a charging location, but typically when that location has only one machine. I have rarely seen it used to mean a charging location with multiple chargers. Below are the examples of how it is used in the press release:
- Charging stations will be accessible to all EV customers, offering both Combined Charging System (CCS) and North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors
- First stations are scheduled to open in the summer of 2024
- The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker…
- The joint venture aims to become the leading network of reliable high-powered charging stations in North America.
- The first stations are expected to open in the United States in the summer of 2024 and in Canada at a later stage.
- Focused on customer comfort and charging ease, the stations will be in convenient locations…
- A select number of flagship stations will be equipped with additional amenities, delivering a premier experience…
- Initial plans call for the deployment of charging stations in metropolitan areas and along major highways, including connecting corridors…
- …aiming to offer a charging station wherever people may choose to live, work and travel.
When I switch my brain to gasoline brain I can figure out that when the press release say “charging stations” it means some sort of grouping of chargers or a charger, maybe? The Release reflects the nebulous nature of how “charging station” is used in the vernacular. It requires a fuzzy logic to figure out what they are saying from context and exactly what they mean is not really that important. However, in a press release when reporters and the general public are reading the, a greater level of clarity might be in order. Thirty thousand chargers, spread out one at a location is a very different thing than 30,000 chargers situated such that in high traffic corridors there are more chargers, while in low traffic areas there maybe only one or two, may help the reader get a better idea of what this group plans to do. Again, using the words, “charging station” in all of these different ways may be confusing to a newcomer to electric vehicles as well as to a reporter.
Finally, someone has to tell whoever wrote this press release that there is a big difference between saying, “and” something and “or” something. In several places the release seemed to contradict itself. First example is in the bullet points at the very beginning of the presser says, “Charging stations will be accessible to all EV customers, offering both Combined Charging System (CCS) “and” North American Charging Standard (NACS) connectors.” In my mined this meant that the chargers would most likely have two charge plugs, one being a CCS and the other being a NACS, because from my reading “charging station” could mean a single machine. Then I thought, maybe they mean location by saying “charging station,” which could mean at each location there could be both CCS and NACS chargers separately. But later on in the presser it says, “The new charging stations will be accessible to all battery-powered electric vehicles from any automaker using Combined Charging System (CCS) “or” North American Charging Standard (NACS)…” This to me means that there maybe locations for CCS chargers and others locations with NACS. So, again, the press release left me confused and unsure what it was saying.
Now, Tesla has developed an adaptor for Ford, which I believe will work with other CCS vehicles that allow them to plug a NACS plug into a CCS ported vehicle. Tesla has also had for a time for its Tesla EV owners a CCS to Tesla adaptor. I don’t believe that just any old EV with a CCS charge port on it with an adaptor can pull up to a Tesla Supercharger and begin charging. Tesla Superchargers don’t have many buttons or screens on them to convey information to the user charging. The way the Tesla Superchargers (NACS) work is that information is passed from the vehicle to the Supercharger network and back to make the charging experience just plug and play. It is also done through a proprietary Tesla app on a smartphone, and requires the user to set things up in advance with Tesla in order to use the system. It remains to be seen what advantages the special relationship Tesla has with Ford that may be extended to other car companies. Ford, as well as, GM, Volvo, Rivian and Nissan have all committed to switching their vehicles to the NACS standard with the NACS charge port and electronics inside them. Several car companies in the above group of 7 have not made the same commitment to the NACS standard. It makes me wonder why they would think that Tesla would be willing to let them have access to their proprietary standard? For those that don’t switch, chances are, there will be a marketplace penalty for not doing so.
There is a lot needed to be done to overcomes the errors of the past in EV infrastructure. The first model and mistake handed to us first adopters of EVs by major internal combustion engine vehicle makers was the small battery, low range and slow level 2 charger design. Even the “DC fast charging” that was available was slow, often coming in at a quarter at either the charger or on the vehicle of what Tesla was offering, and was often an expensive option to add to your vehicle. That model met few of the EV owners needs and could never compete against Tesla’s 200+ mile ranges and 30 minutes or less DC fast charging Superchargers. Then car companies began to increase their ranges to match Tesla’s base 200+ mile ranges. The need for truly powerful DC fast chargers became clearly evident. Europe saw the changes coming and switched its DC fast charging network to handle much faster charging for these 200+ range vehicles. But, the implementation of CCS chargers in the US and the “DC fast charging” speeds on the vehicles themselves was still slow. Connecting a 200 mile plus EV to a 50 kW charger for even an 80% charge was hours of waiting. The painfulness of this rollout was exacerbated by the knowledge that CCS had been given a huge shot in the arm with billions of dollars coming to it from a settlement with VW for having cheated on diesel emissions tests with hardware and software in its diesel vehicles. Unfortunately, the company that VW created to received the money of the settlement had misspent the money on charging stations that were highly unreliable. The trouble with its chargers negated all the positives that could have been had from a rollout of a national DC fast charging network. The unreliability of CCS chargers seemed to spread like a virus to the other CCS charger companies. Unreliable chargers seemed to have become the norm across all CCS charger brands. Tesla’s Superchargers, on the other hand, were known to be highly reliable and easy to operate. The stark difference between the reliability of the CCS chargers versus Tesla led Ford to drop the CCS standard soon after Tesla opened its standard up to other manufacturers and changed its name to the North American Charging Standard (NACS).
Now, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Rivian, and Volvo have pledge to switch to the NACS standard as well. The group of 7 that have signed on to this press release are going to have to compete with a company that has proven high reliability and a well defined process, has had years to learn how to reduce its costs and improve its product, has years of working with power companies and more, all the while the group of 7 will have to deal with legacy charging companies that already have CCS chargers out there who can improve on their reliability or compete on cost.
Even though I think this alliance between these automakers is going to be overall a good thing for the adoption of electric vehicles, I found the lack of clarity of this press release to be annoying. Were they going to provide access to DC fast charging to everyone, everywhere or weren’t they? Were the charging locations all going to be NACS or were some charging locations on your charge app map going to only have CCS chargers? I also found that this group wasn’t willing or able to come together to put to bed the CCS standard and provide one standard for all EV owners making it much, much easier to find and charge when traveling long distances. One charging standard is all we need, so, one standard is all that we should have. Anything else is added unnecessary complexity and in the long run added frustration.
You can see the press release here.
www.prnewswire.com/...