A Washington state official told Reuters that electric vehicle charging providers must use Tesla’s connection to participate in a federally funded highway electrification program.
Washington follows Texas in mandating Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), giving CEO Elon Musk hope of making it the national charging standard.
G.M. (GM.N), Ford (F.N.), and Rivan (RIVN.O) have announced they will adopt Tesla’s NACS, rejecting the Biden administration’s CCS.
“I’m delighted about NACS and automakers finally adopting one standard. “We want to offer as many make and models as possible,” said Washington State Department of Transportation alternative fuels program manager Tonia Buell.
“It hasn’t necessarily been tested and certified for other auto manufacturers, so we want to make sure it’s going to work, but we are planning to require NACS at our state- and federally-funded sites in the future.”
On Monday, Kris Rietmann Abrudan, a Washington State Department of Transportation representative, stated that no final decision had been made on whether to require NACS. Officials are still considering how market movements may affect charger deployment.
Buell said the fall proposal request process concerns “future proofing” investments.
Buell said state authorities are still determining the correct NACS charger mix based on federal regulations. Under federal law, each taxpayer-funded site must have at least four CCS chargers, and Buell said the state might require at least two or all four to function with NACS.
Washington’s strategy may pressure other states and the feds to embrace Tesla’s NACS.
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