Mercedes-Benz is the latest automaker to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). Starting in 2024 Mercedes EVs will gain access to Tesla’s Supercharger network in North America. But Mercedes also announced today that the company is expanding its own charging network, and expects to have more than 2,500 high-power chargers installed in North America with the first sites opening in the last quarter of 2023.
Mercedes joins Ford, GM, Rivian, Volvo and Polestar in turning to the North American Charging Standard. This leaves Volkswagen, BMW, Hyundai, Toyota, Honda, Stellantis and Tata’s Jaguar Land Rover as North America’s major automakers not yet offering NACS compatibility. Several states, including Texas and Kentucky, are even mandating charging stations funded with the state’s cash must use NACS.
As TechCrunch’s Tim De Chant wrote, NACS is quickly gaining momentum as automakers rush to offer compatibility to Tesla’s charging network.
Starting in 2024, Mercedes-Benz will offer a NACS adapter for the company’s existing CCS BEVs. Then, for model years 2025 and later, the company’s North American vehicles will be built with a NACS port.
Mercedes says it’s also building its own charging network, with an initial plan of establishing more than 2,000 charging hubs with 10,000 chargers in North America, Europe, China and “other core markets” by 2030. But that’s a fraction of Tesla’s current Supercharger network which, as of April 2023, had 45,000 chargers worldwide.