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Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

thedrive.com

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Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#3
I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety.

The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector.

There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow truck. Until the USA adopts a reasonable national standard then all this electric car futurism is just branded nonsense and patent profiteering.

ICE automobiles have TWO standards for fuel, regular pump, and hi-flo nozzles with a wider diameter built to fit commercial trucks. they are free to use.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#4
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

Isn’t adoption of NACS supposed to be the solution here?

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#6
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

In practice there are only three: NACS (currently only at Tesla stations); CCS (everywhere that isn't Tesla), and J1772 (destination charging).

NACS is the industry consensus on the one true North American plug to rule them all going forward.

CHAdeMO is completely dead -- you'll sometimes see them, but they're being kept on life support if not outright decommissioned.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#7
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

What are the 7?

In my experience, the two that really matter are J1772/CCS1 and NACS (Tesla). There's a scattering of CHADeMO, but I haven't yet seen a Level 3 DC charger that has CHADeMO only - the cabinet also has a CCS1 plug.

Most (all?) manufacturers will be moving to NACS in the next few years. Luckily, J1772/CCS1 and NACS are protocol-level compatible, so adaptors are relatively cheap and easy to make.

The remaining incompatibilities are commercial/business decisions (e.g. Telsa opening up the Supercharger network to other manufacturers).

EDIT to clarify: I'm combining J1772 and CCS1 because there aren't any cars that have one but not the other. CCS1 starts with J1772 and adds a couple extra pins for DC fast charging (Level 3).

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#8
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

There's only 3 plug formats that matter. J1772 for AC charging, the Tesla plug (called NACS), and CCS, the other main standard. It may look messy but it's trivial in practice, once you can use superchargers.

Once you have access to superchargers you can just drive. I've driven across the country 3 times in a Tesla, now I have a different EV with a CCS plug and access to superchargers with an adapter, I'm free to go where I want.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#9
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

Virtually every EV sold today is one of 2 standards.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#10
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

This is not at all accurate. There have only ever been 3 DC Fast Charging connectors in use in North America. CCS1, Tesla's and Chademo. Chademo was only really used on a couple of cars and most popularly on the Nissan Leaf. Chademo is effectively dead in the US. Which leaves CCS1 and Tesla/NACS/J3400 (which is all the same thing.) All manufacturers are migrating to Tesla's plug. This will take time as it's not a trivial change. Any EV driver is well served to carry an adapter, but it's not totally necessary. My BMW EV does not have accesd to Tesla's supercharging network (so no need for an adapter) and I have driven over 50k miles in the last 18 months on road trips all over the US.

Please stop spreading misinformation.

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