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Washington follows the move by Texas to mandate Tesla's
technology, The North American Charging Standard (NACS), adding
momentum to CEO Elon Musk's hope of making it the national
charging technology.
GM, Ford and Rivan have said they would embrace Tesla's NACS,
shunning efforts by the Biden administration to make the
Combined Charging System (CCS) the dominant charging standard in
the United States.
"I’m actually really happy about NACS and how finally automakers
are gearing towards one standard. We want to provide access to
as many makes and models as possible," said Tonia Buell,
alternative fuels program manager at Washington state's
Department of Transportation.
"It hasn't necessarily been tested and certified for other auto
manufacturers, so we want to make sure it's going to work but we
are planning to require NACS at our state funded and federally
funded sites in the future."
The state plans to begin the requests for proposals process in
the fall.
Buell said the decision is about “future proofing” the state’s
investments.
Buell said state officials are still trying to determine the
right mix of NACS chargers based on current federal
requirements. Under federal rules, each taxpayer-backed site
must have at least four CCS chargers and Buell said the state
may require at least two of them to work with NACS or perhaps
all four.
The plan by Washington may add pressure on other states and the
federal government to adopt Tesla's NACS.
(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Writing by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing
by Peter Henderson and Daniel Wallis)
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