Rivian joins alliance to adopt Tesla’s EV charging standard

Electric vehicle maker Rivian has agreed to adopt Tesla’s charging standard, issuing customers access to the most predominant U.S. charging network and adding momentum to Tesla’s bid to set industry standards. 

Automaker Hyundai’s president said the company would consider joining the alliance of automakers shifting to Tesla’s standard but that it would have to determine what is in the best interest of its customers. 

Rivian customers can access 12,000 Superchargers with adaptors in the U.S. and Canada as early as 2024. 

Tesla Superchargers make up roughly 60% of available U.S. fast chargers. Recently, Ford and General Motors struck deals with the EV maker to utilize its charging technology, now the North American Charging Standard (NACS). 

Automakers require access to reliable charging to relieve customers’ concerns about being stranded when a battery runs out of power. Still, most, except for Tesla, have yet to create their own networks.

According to analysts, since there are very few EVs made by manufacturers other than Tesla on the road, installing and maintaining a network of chargers is expensive and yields still-limited returns. 

The costs for utilizing Tesla’s Superchargers are included in the services and other revenue category, which comprised just under 10% of total revenue in the most recent quarter. The company does not separate charging revenue.

In a statement, Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe claimed that customers of the company’s electric pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles could “leverage Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network.”

The Combined Charging System (CCS), a competing standard that had previously had support from the Biden administration and is now offering $7.5 billion in funding to hasten the deployment of EV chargers in the United States, has been primarily replaced by Tesla.