\u201cIn all honesty, it\u2019s a shame the industry has waited this long,\u201d Romano said. \u201cPersonally, I actually think it’s a travesty that this didn’t go down like it did in Europe, where just by law, you had to have a single connection type. It should not have taken to this point.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In other words, Romano said, the charging industry has been waiting on some clarity as to where things are going, because it also doesn\u2019t want to take part in some kind of format war between NACS and the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard that\u2019s currently more the norm. But with now more than a dozen major automakers making a switch to Tesla\u2019s plug instead \u2013 even the BMW Group announced the change this week \u2013 Romano said the market has spoken instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s a change that he says ChargePoint, which until now has specialized in CCS equipment, is ready for. The Bay Area-based company announced today that it is starting the rollout of new chargers that use both the CCS plugs and NACS plugs in one place, and offering upgrades to the owners of that equipment. ChargePoint\u2019s revenue comes from the sale of its charging infrastructure and maintenance contracts for them, not from customers paying for electricity. It also sells its software to a number of other charging entities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Future equipment will come with two plugs: one for CCS, and one for NACS. That way any car that parks in front of a ChargePoint station should be accommodated, Romano said. \u201cIf you see ChargePoint, it\u2019ll just work with your car,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not want our customers to have to dedicate a parking space to a connector type,\u201d Romano said. \u201cYou’ll never get the ratio right, and that ratio will change over time. We have a solution that doesn’t make you have to pick.\u201d<\/p>\n
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It’s a lot to do for ChargePoint, which, according to data from EVAdoption<\/em>, is the biggest public charging network with nearly 50,000 U.S. stations. Tesla’s Supercharger network comes in second place, but unlike Tesla, the vast majority of\u00a0ChargePoint stations are still Level 2 destination chargers and not DC fast chargers. But that market is growing too.\u00a0ChargePoint also said this rollout will mean \u201cthe first public DC fast charging alternative to the Tesla Supercharger network\u201d on NACS, which will be a benefit to Tesla drivers looking for options too and the scores of new EVs that will use that plug standard from about 2025 onward.\u00a0<\/p>\n ChargePoint also recently announced a $232 million capital raise to support its \u201cpath to profitability,\u201d which Romano claims is on track to happen in Q4 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Romano has served as ChargePoint\u2019s CEO since 2011. But like EVs have had to do since then, charging is growing from a niche gasoline alternative to a crucial part of future transportation infrastructure currently backed by billions of dollars in federal grants alone. It\u2019s having a moment, and Romano said he wants ChargePoint \u2013 a relatively early player in this space \u2013 to keep up and stay relevant. He insisted that ultimately, the NACS takeover isn\u2019t that big of a deal to charging providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just a plastic shape,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty cost-effective to support both at the same time, given how much a fast charger costs on the AC side.\u201d He also added that between the scores of EVs on the road now that use CCS plugs and will need them for years and decades to come, and the fact that Europe has mandated use of the CCS plug, the standard isn\u2019t going anywhere anytime soon. Hence, the two-pronged approach here.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe auto OEMs have already spoken the overwhelming majority of them have already said they’re not going to support [CCS in America] post-2025,\u201d Romano said. \u201cBut for us, we don’t want our customers, which ultimately the station owners, to have to be planners and pick which is which. So if you use ChargePoint\u2019s solution, we’re gonna have a solution for you that basically supports both connected types, in a single parking space.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the company added that conversion kits for current units start around $200 and go up to about $3,000, depending on the speeds and equipment involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n Realistically, the third-party charging industry had no choice but to make these moves. In fact, the widespread adoption of NACS has been pushed largely because automakers \u2013 starting with Ford earlier this year \u2013 have gotten increasingly fed up with the lack of reliability and availability of chargers. The automotive industry doesn\u2019t really want to be in the fueling (or charging) business, but unlike the gas stations that built up over a century, EV charging hasn\u2019t really stepped up. Since they can\u2019t beat Tesla on the charging front, automakers are simply joining it instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUptime\u201d continues to be a challenge for charging companies; one study from last year said that even in the Bay Area, where EVs are everwhere, more than a quarter of public chargers were non-functional. That problem is widely cited as a barrier to EV adoption.<\/p>\n ChargePoint, it\u2019s probably fair to say, hasn\u2019t exactly been the poster child for uptime. Nearly every EV driver has encountered a ChargePoint charger that works too slowly, is unresponsive, or is just completely dead. But that\u2019s something the company\u2019s been trying to make inroads on too recently, adding an operations center for around-the-clock station monitoring, keeping track of more social posts complaining of broken units, and, Romano added, encouraging more property owners to opt into its more comprehensive maintenance and support package.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it’s incumbent on us to basically drive our own policies to make sure that especially for public-facing stuff\u2026 a random individual that’s going to count on it,\u201d Romano said. \u201cThat’s the kind of stuff that we’re investing very heavily in, in terms of the physical uptime.\u00a0I think it’s more of making sure that a customer on the initial sale understands what they’re getting into and are really committed.”\u00a0<\/p>\n But that does put ChargePoint in direct competition with Tesla\u2019s Supercharger stations, which are known for their uptime and quality as well as abundance on the roads. There, again, Romano said having NACS ports everywhere, including when people charge at the office or at shopping destinations, is going to just be a value add for drivers no matter what the logo on the station might be.\u00a0<\/p>\n “In a world where NACS is supported by us and everyone else, the consumer will pick\u00a0what they want to avail themselves of while they’re stopped,” Romano said. “We\u00a0have to be everywhere because businesses want to work with us.\u00a0That’s the competitive angle. if we’re a better company to work with for that business, then that’s what the business will put in and their patrons won’t have to pick.”\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n