Tesla still has to provide CCS connectors to get federal Supercharger funding despite Ford and GM joining NACS

The government connected Tesla to federal funding for its US$7.5 billion nationwide EV charging network directly on Friday. Its spokesperson Robyn Patterson said in a statement that Elon Musk's darling can take advantage of the federal dollars earmarked for the purpose provided that Tesla's Supercharger stations ensure a minimum quantity of the CCS connectors that other automakers use.

The statement comes as a warning of sorts, since both Ford and GM announced that they will be using Tesla's open-source North American Charging Standard (NACS) technology from now on. This will leave much less electric vehicles in the US using the CCS connector and could make NACS the de facto standard instead of the global CCS solution.

"Earlier this year, we developed minimum standards to ensure publicly funded EV charging is accessible, reliable, and affordable for all drivers, and we required interoperability to promote competition," reminds the White House statement, as the government's standards "give flexibility for adding both CCS and NACS, as long as drivers can count on a minimum of CCS."

Tesla already started equipping Supercharger stations with the so-called Magic Dock piles that have a CCS adapter attached to the NACS connector. At them, anyone with a Rivian, a Ford F-150 Lightning, a Hyundai Ioniq, or other non-Tesla EV can now approach and charge their vehicle for a slight premium over Tesla's pricing.

The move is intended to placate precisely those government standards that Robyn Patterson talks about. Tesla will most likely continue equipping Magic Docks across the US to reach the minimum CCS connector requirement needed to get even more federal funding.

After all, the US taxpayers are potentially on the hook for US$41 billion in tax credit transfers to Tesla and its battery supplier Panasonic, and their bill could rise with a few more billion for a nationwide network of interoperable Superchargers, too, if Tesla plays its cards right.

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