Ford and GM Adopts Tesla Charging Network Sets Stage for Battle about Fast-Charging Standard
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Key Findings
- Ford and GM Address Biggest Barrier to EV Adoption: The single biggest barrier to consumer adoption of EVs has been concern about the availability and reliability of public chargers. By adopting Tesla’s EV charging network, which is the largest and most reliable network in the country, Ford and GM are clearly focused on alleviating customer concerns about public charging.
- A $7.5 Billion Question on the Future of Fast Charging: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law introduced $7.5 billion in funding for EV charging infrastructure with a big focus on fast charging, which includes the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard. Tesla does not use this standard. Instead, it developed its own North American Charging Standard (NACS), which Ford and GM vehicles will be adopting beginning in 2024. With over 70% of EV sales soon to be compatible with the Tesla standard, the future of CCS is now in question.
- What About Everyone Else? Tesla has maintained its lead as the most-considered EV brand among consumers for the past year, with a key contributing factor being charging availability. Charging availability is also cited as a key purchase reason among Tesla buyers. How will this move influence consideration for Ford and GM vehicles and what will happen to consideration and valuation on vehicles that do not adopt the Tesla standard?
Executive Summary
Standards. They may not be the most interesting part of peoples’ daily lives, but they are the critical building blocks that keep our light bulbs screwed in, our trains running on the same gauge tracks and our financial markets moving. They can also determine the winners and losers when new technologies are introduced. Perhaps the most famous example of this is the War of the Currents, which pit direct current (DC) versus alternating current (AC) in a quest to become the dominant form of home electricity.
Today, similar battle lines are being drawn around the standards used for the nation’s EV fast-charging network. On one side is the Combined Charging System (CCS), a non-proprietary standard used in public charging stations operated by the likes of Electrify America, EVgo, ChargePoint and others. On the other, there is Tesla and its North American Charging standard (NACS). With their decision to integrate Tesla’s standard into their future EVs, Ford and GM have put two very big fingers on the scale favoring NACS. How will it all play out for consumers?
This E-Vision Intelligence Report dives into key data points trending in each monthly EV Index update, along with other data points gathered from J.D. Power studies and pulse surveys, to spotlight emerging trends and important shifts in EV consumer sentiment.
Addressing Consumer Pain Points
Before getting into the potential ripple effects and ramifications of Ford’s and GM’s decisions to join the Tesla charging network, it is important to note that the move addresses a significant consumer pain point. Lack of public charging infrastructure has been the top consumer barrier to EV adoption for the past 12 months, followed by related issues involving range anxiety; time required to charge; and inability to charge at home or work.
Tesla simply has the largest and most reliable fast charging network. At nearly 19,500 ports nationwide, Tesla added 1,292 Supercharger ports in the first quarter of 2023 alone. The next closest is EVgo, which currently has approximately 2,250 fast charging ports nationwide and added 250 new ports during that same timeframe, according to the Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data center.
When it comes to reliability, no other provider is even close to Tesla. Through the first quarter of this year, 21.6% of EV drivers visiting non-Telsa public charging stations were unable to charge their vehicle. Among Tesla drivers using the Tesla Supercharger network, that number falls to just 3.9%.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Tesla earns significantly higher customer satisfaction scores than rival EV manufacturers when it comes to using public charging networks. Overall satisfaction with DC fast charging (Level 3) among Tesla vehicle owners is 734 (on a 1,000-point scale), while General Motors is 586 and Ford is 544. The average for all other manufacturers is 558.
Questions About the Future of Fast-Charging
Together, Tesla, Ford and GM represent approximately 70% of monthly new market sales that will be compatible with Tesla’s NACS standard for fast charging. That’s going to create potential ripple effects across the industry, but perhaps the biggest will be determining what happens to the $7.5 billion in funding introduced under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The legislation initially focused the bulk of its attention on fast-charging infrastructure using the non-proprietary CCS standard.
Immediately following GM’s announcement that it would join Ford on the Tesla NACS standard, the White House issued a statement that EV charging stations using the NACS standard would be eligible for federal subsidies as long as they include a CCS charging connection as well.
That sounds simple enough, but programming and equipping vehicles originally designed to be charged on CCS to also be charged on NACS is not as simple as it sounds. In addition to requiring hardware that facilitates charging with both standards, software inside the vehicles also needs to be programmed to support both types of charging. In the near term, this is likely to spur consumer confusion and frustrations over interoperability and compatibility.
What About Everyone Else?
Tesla has maintained its lead as the most-considered EV brand among consumers for the past year, with a key contributing factor being charging availability. However, Ford and Chevrolet are on Tesla’s coattails as the topmost considered brands.
Each month, overall trends in EV consideration are driven by a complex mix of new model introductions, vehicle-specific incentives and other criteria. While it is not yet clear how Ford’s and GM’s decisions to join the Tesla charger network will influence consumer behavior, the moves are expected to positively affect EV consideration for both brands. It is less clear whether making Tesla’s network available to other brands will negatively or positively influence Tesla consideration.
With charging availability being a key purchase driver, will Ford and Chevrolet capture more EV shoppers and take market share from Tesla and other brands?
Methodology
This J.D. Power E-Vision Intelligence Report is based on data and insights from the J.D. Power EV Index, the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study, and the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) Study. The J.D. Power EV Index is an analytics tool to benchmark the growing EV market in the United States. It tracks millions of data points aggregated into six categories—interest, availability, adoption, affordability, infrastructure and experience—to evaluate the progress to parity of EVs with ICE vehicles in the U.S. Each month, the J.D. Power electric vehicle practice will analyze these data points, and others to spotlight emerging trends and important shifts in consumer sentiment that are helping to define the fast-moving EV marketplace.
Find out More
This report was authored by Elizabeth Krear, vice president, electric vehicle practice; Brent Gruber, executive director, electric vehicle practice; Stewart Stropp, executive director, electric vehicle practice; and Kristen Richter, senior manager, electric vehicle practice. The J.D. Power E-Vision initiative is a company-wide program focused on maximizing J.D. Power industry-leading EV data, analytics, insights and solutions. Please contact us at the numbers below to connect with the authors or to learn more about the underlying research.