SAE to standardize Tesla's NACS charging connector

SAE International announced that it will standardize the Tesla-developed North American Charging Standard (NACS) charging connector for EVs. The global engineering organization that engages nearly 200,000 engineers, technical experts and volunteers said in a press release that it will work to help with deployment of the NACS connector, an alternative to the longstanding SAE J1772 Combined Charging System (CCS) connector, after Ford, General Motors and a number of EV public-charging equipment suppliers recently indicated they intend to adopt the NACS connector design.

“Standardizing the NACS connector will provide certainty, expanded choice, reliability and convenience to manufacturers and suppliers and, most of all, increase access to charging for consumers,” explained Frank Menchaca, president of Sustainable Mobility Solutions, an innovation arm of SAE's parent company, Fullsight. The organization in a statement credited the U.S.'s Joint Office of Energy and Transportation for fostering the SAE-Tesla partnership and “expediting plans to standardize NACS - an important step in building an interoperable national charging network that will work for all EV drivers.”