(Reuters) – Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars said on Tuesday it had signed an agreement with Tesla to give its electric vehicles (EVs) access to the EV maker’s Supercharger network in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The deal makes Volvo the first European automaker to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), adding to the slew of EV makers and charging equipment manufacturers taking up the technology.
Starting 2025, Volvo’s cars in the three countries will be equipped with the NACS port, it said, adding that drivers who choose to use the Combined Charging System (CCS) will able to do so with an adapter provided by the company.
Earlier this month, California-based EV maker Rivian Automotive Inc and General Motors said they would adopt the charging design, following Ford’s announcement last month.
Tesla’s Superchargers account for about 60% of the total fast chargers available in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Its recent deals represent major strides in displacing rival standard CCS that earlier exclusively had the backing of President Joe Biden’s administration.
The government is offering $7.5 billion in funding to speed the deployment of EV chargers in the United States.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
