⚡ Return of the idle fees, Ford update on NACS adoption 🔌

Happy Monday. This is Electric Avenue. We’re the weekly e-mobility newsletter that has more flavor than grandma’s secret bolognese sauce 🍝.

Here’s what we have for you today:

• 1 Video 📹 : Ford update on NACS adoption

• Tesla’s NACS: A standard is born 👶

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

Let's get into it!

1 Video 📹

Tom Moloughney (YouTube channel State of Charge) got an exclusive interview with Ford to discuss the company’s transition to Tesla’s NACS connector. The official announcement from Ford left a lot of questions unanswered - we reported in ⚡ Connector Drama: Why Ford got caught in flagrante with Tesla 🤯.

So what answers did we get now? Spoiler alert: not many.

Here’s the rundown:

• Twice the inlets, twice the fun?: Ford has not decided yet whether 2025+ vehicles will have two chargeports (CCS + NACS) or just the NACS chargeport.

• Adapters: For existing Ford vehicles with CCS ports adapters will be available for purchase in early 2024 on accessories.ford.com. Ford has not determined pricing yet. Tesla will be the official supplier of those adapters to Ford.

• Cable length: Ford is “aware” of issues with its current charge port locations and Tesla’s short cables. No info on how this will be addressed though (e.g. Tesla adding longer cables, Ford relocating the chargeport on 2025+ vehicle models, adapter with cord..).

• Commercial terms: Ford did not have to pay Tesla for using the NACS connector design.

• Plug&Charge: Ford’s intention is to have “some kind of Plug&Charge experience” on Tesla’s network.

• V2X: Ford is committed to offering bidirectional charging and clearly states that the NACS connector is capable of bidirectional power flow.

• Charging Joint Venture: No clear statement on why Ford did not join the 7 automakers building a North American fast charging network. Ford is building out a DC fast charging network at its dealer sites - and for now, those are built out with CCS connectors.

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Tesla’s NACS: A standard is born 👶

When we last discussed Tesla’s connector in ⚡ NACS on the rise 🌅, we wrote:

Since then, the North American Charging Standard (NACS) has taken a significant step towards becoming a bona fide standard:

The North American automotive standardization body SAE (=Society of Automotive Engineers) has announced that it wants to turn NACS into a formal SAE standard on a drastically accelerated timeline.

The standard will carry the name SAE J3400: NACS electric vehicle coupler and will be developed in a special task force under SAE’s Hybrid-EV committee.

In a recent SAE podcast we got the inside scoop from Dr. Rodney McGee, P.E. Chairman of the SAE J3400 NACS Task Force, and Chief Engineer at the University of Delaware.

To save you the 43 minutes of podcast playtime we summarized the highlights for y’all. Here’s the rundown:

• Targeting the Connector, Not the Complete Package: SAE J3400 focuses exclusively on the connector itself, leaving aside factors such as communication and reliability.

• The Decision Between IEC and SAE - A Strategic Move Towards Faster Standardization: Once Tesla realized they had to put NACS through a formal standardization process with an SDO (Standards Development Organization) they had two major options: IEC and SAE. While IEC offers global recognition, it is a global organization with a lot more stakeholders. Its extended timeline (2026-2029) made SAE a more attractive choice for Tesla, given its faster procedures.

• Tentative SAE timeline:

  • A Typical SAE standard development takes 16-18 month.

  • For SAE J3400 NACS, SAE is targeting a “Technical information report” within ~6 months + Full standardization within ~11months.

• The Main Challenge - Balancing Act Between the Existing and the New: Typically standards start off at the conceptual stage, multiple companies make proposals and eventually, experts coalesce around a single solution. However, NACS's majority market share as an already deployed system gives it a unique position. The critical balancing act here lies in incorporating innovations and additions from a wide range of stakeholders without risking compatibility with current NACS charging stations.

Take-away: The standardization process will require a delicate balancing act from SAE. It has set an aggressive timeline for itself and also needs to steer the standard development in a way that ensures backward compatibility to existing NACS deployments.

3 Links 🔗

• Return of the idle fees ⌛: Electrify America (EA) announced two major changes to its pricing model due later this month. First will be the re-introduction of idle fees at $0.40/min. These apply to customers who block charging stations beyond a 10-minute grace period. Secondly, EA will shift from uniform energy or time-based pricing nationwide to a station-specific pricing model - mirroring Tesla’s approach.

• Back to basics 🏷️: Electric car startup Lucid Motors partially rolled back its price increases from May of last year. Vehicle trims cut prices between $5k - $12k. The company also just shared its Q2 earnings, with production numbers down 6% from Q1 and deliveries essentially flat - 1.404 vehicles in Q2 vs. 1.406 vehicles in Q1.

• Here comes the gang 💪: We recently reported on GM Energy’s launch of the Ultium Home Charging offering. Thus far we had reason to assume that the bidirectional charging functionalities within that are limited to the Chevy Silverado EV for now. This week the company announced that it has decided to roll out the V2H bidirectional charging functionality to most of its upcoming electric cars. Here’s the list:

  • 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV

  • 2024 GMC Sierra EV

  • 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV

  • 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV

  • 2024 Cadillac Lyriq

  • Cadillac Escalade IQ

Meme of the Week 🤡

That's a wrap for this week! Let us know how you feel (We read every single one of these reviews 🙂 ):

Reader Review of the Week

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.