Polestar is the latest EV manufacturer to announce that its drivers will be able to use the Tesla Superchargers in North America with the help of an adapter, while there are also rumours that Polestar 4 and 5 could come equipped to make use of the American proprietary chargers right from the start.
This will mean Polestar becomes the fifth company in the last few weeks to have decided on the switch, following in the footsteps of other EV giants like Ford, General Motors, Volvo and Rivian.
In May we reported that Ford EV drivers could start using Tesla Superchargers with an adapter from early next year, and from 2025, the next generation of Ford’s electric cars will come equipped already with the charging standard.
Tesla’s own proprietary charging standard, called the North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, seems to be becoming more and more common with electric car manufacturers, ditching the Combined Charging System (CCS). In the same month, GM and Rivian also announced the same, while a few days ago, Volvo said that its EVs were going to adopt the NACS port too.
> Ford EVs can use Tesla’s Superchargers from next year
Welcome Polestar owners to Superchargers across North America https://t.co/pExAGX05ee
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) June 29, 2023
It would still be important to note that though that almost all other EV-makers use CCS, but the swift adoption rate from a handful of major players could prove to be a tipping point and nudge other manufacturers too, or at least give them something to think about.
The reason for this swift change could also be the reason that till November, Tesla’s plug design was proprietary until the company published the technical details of its system and made it available to other automakers and makers of EV chargers.
To use Tesla’s Superchargers, owners will need a CCS-to-NACS adapter, while Polestar models released in 2025 onward will have the standard built-in. But then if you wanted to charge at a CCS-standard station, you are then going to need another adapter.
> New Polestar 4 announced: a second SUV in the line-up
What it could further complicate is the further models down in Polestar’s lineup. The Polestar 3 SUV and Polestar 4 SUV coupe are expected in 2024, while the Polestar 5 grand tourer and Polestar 6 roadster are coming later. In other words, some models will have as little as one year of CCS-native charging before moving to Tesla’s port while others will ship with NACS from the outset. You may have to decide if it’s worth dealing with an adapter just to get an EV as soon as it’s available.
Polestar’s CEO Thomas Ingenlath said: “We salute the pioneering work Tesla has done to speed up the adoption and increase the popularity of electric vehicles, and it’s great to see the Supercharger network being made available in this way. This move will greatly increase the rate of EV adoption in a key automotive region.”
