When it comes to the public EV charging experience, it’s all about making it as seamless as possible.
That’s the thinking behind General Motors’ adoption of the North American Charging Standard (NACS), pioneered by Tesla and now the EV sector’s mainstream standard for charging connectors. GM previously announced plans to roll out a native NACS charging port starting with the launch this fall of the 2026 Cadillac Optiq-V.
To support this transition, GM Energy, the automaker’s energy-focused business unit, is introducing a new “PowerUp” charger with a NACS-native coupler and new adapters.
“The beauty is that the number of charging options in the market continues to grow, and as we transition to NACS, that technology will start to codify on one single standard, which will just make it that much easier for our customers,” William Hotchkiss, COO and head of public charging at GM Energy, told Tech Brew.
Adaptable: In 2023, Ford became the first automaker to announce it was adopting NACS, and was quickly followed by most other players in the EV market, including GM.
Last September, GM began offering a NACS adapter to its EV customers so they could start using Tesla Supercharger stations, which are widely considered to be the gold standard for public fast charging in the US.
The move also enabled customers to use their GM brand apps to find Supercharger stations, and to initiate and pay for charging sessions.
“GM’s ongoing efforts to help accelerate the expansion of public charging infrastructure is an integral part of our commitment to an all-electric future,” Wade Sheffer, VP of GM Energy, said in a statement at the time.
Now, GM EV drivers have access to more than 24,000 Superchargers and, by the end of this year, should have access to 250,000 public chargers, according to Hotchkiss.
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Multiple fronts: The NACS transition is just one way GM is trying to make public charging easier for drivers.
Other efforts include a partnership with Pilot Travel Centers to install 2,000 DC fast chargers at “up to 500 Pilot and Flying J travel centers,” according to GM, as well as a partnership with charging network EVgo to install another 2,850 fast chargers in major cities across the country. Hotchkiss said to expect additional partnership announcements in the future.
“We want to simplify the experience. We want to bring down the barriers to EV adoption,” he said. “We want our customers to feel confident that when they want to charge, whether it’s in the home or the public domain, depending on their commutes and their driving needs, that they have a solution they can count on every time.”
GM is a founding member of a group of automakers that have teamed up on a public charging network called Ionna, which is working to install 30,000 chargers across North America.
In terms of addressing remaining pain points in the charging experience, Hotchkiss noted that the initiative with EVgo initially focused on building charging stations with four stalls, but has since pivoted to a minimum of eight stalls, plus amenities like refreshments and canopies over the stalls. Other areas of focus include uptime, first-time charge success rates, and speedier charging times.
“We still have work to do. I don’t want to oversell that we’re completely where we need to be to make sure everybody has an EV charger within their vicinity,” Hotchkiss said. “But the flywheel is in motion.”