By Abhirup Roy
SAN FRANCISCO BTC Power will add Tesla's standard to its electric vehicle chargers next year, its chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday, days after Ford and General Motors sent shockwaves through the industry by adopting the technology.
Privately-owned BTC, a supplier to 7-Eleven and fleet operators, is the fourth major fast charger maker to embrace Tesla's standard, following ABB E-mobility North America, Tritium DCFC, and SK Signet.
A national EV charging network is key to addressing worries about range and luring customers away from combustion engine driven vehicles and BTC's decision accelerates Tesla's push to dominate the nascent yet fast-growing industry.
"By including the NACS (North American Charging Standard) connector to our chargers we can eliminate the need for unreliable and unpredictable adapters that are being utilized by drivers using our equipment," BTC CEO Frank Meza said.
Santa Ana, California-based BTC has sold more than 22,000 chargers - more than half of them high-speed ones - to charge point operators, fleets and retailers, and counts Electrify America, Ford and Amazon.com among its customers.
Reuters first reported on Tuesday that electric pickup maker Rivian would adopt Tesla's charging standard.
Along with the backing of the two Detroit automakers, that also helps Tesla chief Elon Musk's push to upend the Combined Charging System (CCS) favored by the Biden administration.
The White House, which aims to spur deployment of hundreds of thousands of chargers, said this month EV charging stations with Tesla plugs would be eligible for billions of dollars in federal subsidies as long as they offer CCS connectivity.
Charger makers and CCS operators such as EVgo and Chargepoint have rushed to announce the addition of NACS, despite certain concerns, vying to win Tesla users and limit the risk of losing billing if they only offer CCS.
Tesla shares gained 5% on Tuesday and have more than doubled so far this year. Rivian was up 5.8% on Tuesday. Its stock has lost 19% this year.
(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco; Editing by Peter Henderson and Alexander Smith)
