Stellantis officially announced its adoption of the upcoming SAE J3400 (aka NACS) charging connector in its battery-electric vehicle (BEV) models in North America. The company said it will start with select models in 2025, later mentioning “2026 model year” EVs.
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SAE J3400 NACS is coming in 2024
SAE International expects the Tesla-developed NACS charging solution will be standardized before the end of 2024, as the SAE J3400. It will be used in new electric cars instead of the SAE J1772 Combo (aka CCS1) for AC and DC charging.
During the transition period, Stellantis also intends to make adapters available for older vehicles fitted with the Combined Charging System (CCS1) port.
Interestingly, Stellantis does not say anything about plug-in hybrids, which are the company’s main electrified segment, with over 142,000 sales in 2023. However, we assume that PHEVs will also get the new SAE J3400 charging connector at some point in the future.
Stellantis was notably silent about Tesla in its press release, despite SAE J3400 being essentially a standardized version of the Tesla-developed charging connector. Tesla called its charging solution the North American Charging Standard (NACS). It will be adopted by Ford, General Motors and basically all other large automotive groups in North America.
For now, there is no word about an agreement between Stellantis and Tesla, especially regarding the access to the Tesla Supercharging network. Most OEMs that switched to NACS announced that their EVs will have access to the Tesla Supercharging network (natively or through adapters), so Stellantis is the odd one out.
We asked a spokesperson for Stellantis whether customers would have access to Superchargers, but didn’t get a clear answer. “We’ll continue to look at all options that make charging simpler and more convenient for our customers,” the spokesperson told InsideEVs via email
Ricardo Stamatti, Stellantis SVP of global energy & charging said in a release that “[c]ustomers win when the industry aligns on open standards. We are happy to announce our backing and adoption of the SAE J3400 connector, a milestone for all customers on the path to open and seamless charging. Our Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan puts customers at the center of open interoperability and freedom of mobility for all. This future will be amplified by IONNA, our public charging joint venture with six other OEMs that will deliver industry-leading high-powered charging for all battery-electric vehicles regardless of brand.”
Ionna’s charging stations will be accessible to all BEV customers, offering both Combined Charging System and J3400 connectors natively, the company explains. The first station will open in 2024. Stellantis’ all-electric Fiat 500e, Jeep Wagoneer S, and Jeep Recon are slated to launch this year, too.
