Electric Vehicles

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49329039

The United States government has said it plans to endorse Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) as the federal EV charging standard. This decision aims to unify and streamline the nation’s EV charging infrastructure, promising greater compatibility, efficiency, and accessibility for EV users.

The relatively quick journey of NACS from Tesla’s proprietary design to a federal standard highlights the collaborative efforts between industry stakeholders and regulatory bodies. Independent standards organization SAE International recently finalized the NACS design under the designation J3400. By standardizing NACS, SAE has ensured it functions as an open standard, detached from Tesla’s exclusivity.

Around USD $21,800

Rivian leads the industry in owner satisfaction, with Tesla coming in third — making it two all-electric automakers in the top three.

Consumer Reports has released its latest owner satisfaction survey results. Rivian is taking the top spot for the second year in a row, an impressive feat for a relatively new automaker.

TIL there is this thing called Popemobile. Apparently, it's not a joke. There's even a wiki page about it.

Today, Rivian announced that it is opening up the Rivian Adventure Network of fast chargers to drivers of all other makes of electric vehicles, beginning with its location in Joshua Tree, California. The Joshua Tree Charging Outpost, which has 12 DC fast chargers, is now accessible to any EV with a CCS1 charging port, as well as any Tesla or EV equipped with a native NACS (J3400) port using an adapter. A planned hardware upgrade in the future will add native NACS cables. (Rivian is switching the plugs on its own EVs from CCS1 to NACS in 2025.)

Rivian notes that the new chargers—which are rated at 900 V, meet the design and siting requirements set out under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure and the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure programs created by US President Joe Biden to disburse federal money to states to build out EV charging infrastructure in the US. By opening up to non-Rivian EVs, the network becomes eligible to apply for funding under those programs.