Stellantis recently announced that it is the latest automaker to adopt the North American Charging System (NACS) — known to some as the Tesla plug after the American EV startup that pioneered the standard — starting with new electric vehicle models coming in 2025. This means that now every major automaker that currently sells or plans to sell electric cars in North America is onboard with NACS.
Formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles before rebranding in 2021, Stellantis is a global conglomerate of American and European automotive brands that includes Chrysler, Dodge SRT, Jeep, Ram Trucks, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Maserati. According to a release issued by the automaker, its adoption of the North American Charging System comes as part of its participation in the joint venture seven-automaker EV charging mega network, which will also support the NACS plug across its 30,000 charge points being built by 2030.
Stellantis hasn’t announced exactly which EVs from its Jeep, RAM, Fiat and other brands will be among the first to make the switch.
Starting in 2025, the automaker will begin making adapters available for owners of Stellantis EVs equipped with the current Combined Charging Standard (CCS) ports, ensuring they’ll be able to plug in and charge at NACS-equipped stations during the transition. The automaker will then begin building select 2026 model year vehicles (which should come online in late 2025) with native NACS support and hardware.
RIP CCS?
The writing was already on the wall, but Stellantis coming onboard is the last nail in the coffin for the future of CCS in North America. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should trade away or avoid CCS-equipped EVs today. The NACS transition won’t begin in earnest for most automakers until 2026 and may take years to complete. In the meanwhile, drivers should be able to take advantage of the underlying interoperability of the standards, the large CCS-equipped EV charging networks expanding this year and relatively inexpensive NACS-to-CCS (or CCS-to-NACS) adapters to stay charged for years to come.
