I stumbled across this series of articles from John Voelcker that were published last August. Voelcker is a longtime automotive journalist who's written for Car and Driver for years, and this is a deeply reported piece on some of the recent shifts in the charging industry.

LINK.

Drivers don't like EA because of their consistent reliability problems, and it appears that decisionmakers at other automakers feel the same way. Some of the details really surprised me, particularly the comments from a charger repair company exec.



Part 2 details some of the differences between NACS and today's Tesla connector. It looks like the new standard, dubbed J3400, will be more forward-looking than the current Superchargers. This will be good for 800v platforms, which may include Ford's next-gen truck.

Part 3 talks about how complicated this switch is going to be in the coming years. We'll be dealing with adapters for more than a decade because the existing CCS plug won't disappear overnight. Some think it will last indefinitely, but others like myself think it will eventually go the way of CHAdeMO and slowly fade into obsolescence.

Part 4 is some behind-the-scenes information about the recent news that seven automakers were forming a joint venture to stand up a charging network that competes with EA and the others. Ford isn't among them, and I think that's a disappointment. Regardless, it's good to see some concrete action from car companies who have a huge stake in this game. If the charging experience continues to suck, people will be reluctant to buy their newfangled EVs for obvious reason. @Sous isn't alone here!

I've been an optimist who loves change for my entire life, and I'm really excited to see how things shape up. Tesla's network should open up in just a couple of months, and I'm really looking forward to not having to plan around charger reliability in the future. I'd love to see competition bring lower charging rates for my thirsty Lightning, but greater availability will be a good start.