Nearly a year ago, GM began selling an adapter to allow existing electric vehicles to use North American Charging Standard plugs at Tesla Supercharger stalls. EV owners rejoiced in their newfound freedom. Now, GM is announcing three more adapters. These additional adapters help GM customers access EV chargers with different charging rates and standards, which is a win for flexibility but comes at the cost of simplicity. It is entirely possible that two-EV households could end up owning four different adapters.
Several years ago, the majority of EV models in the U.S. used the Combined Charging System (CCS) standard, with Tesla being the notable exception. In 2022, the automaker opened up the design for its charging connector and charge port, which it now calls the North American Charging Standard (NACS), in an effort to encourage network operators and automakers to adopt the technology and help make it the new standard in North America.
They did adopt it. Today, nearly all automakers are offering adapters to access Tesla Supercharger stations. They are even integrating the NACS design into their own vehicles. Tim Ash, director of hardware products for GM Energy, stated that GM has already committed to transitioning its entire EV portfolio over to NACS, believing that moving to a unified standard simplifies the experience for customers.
However, this shift has created an awkward transition and an abundance of adapters. In addition to the existing NACS-to-CCS adapter for fast charging, GM will sell a NACS-to-J1772 adapter for Level 2 charging. J1772 is the part of the CCS plug that handles slower charging speeds. For future GM EVs built with NACS ports, the automaker will make a J1772-to-NACS adapter for Level 2 charging and a CCS-to-NACS dongle for fast charging.
According to Ash, these new adapters ensure that EV drivers, regardless of their vehicle’s charging type, can access essentially any charging wherever they need it. This problem is not unique to GM. Hyundai, for example, sells NACS-equipped 2025 Ioniq 5 EVs with two adapters, one each for Level 2 and fast charging at CCS-equipped chargers. This is a sign that the transition between EV charging standards will make public charging more confusing before it gets better.
For a majority of charging sessions today, the adapters are unlikely to cause confusion. Most EV charging happens at home or work, locations where the chargers are predictable. However, charging on the road could get complicated quickly. Drivers should plan on stashing the adapters in their vehicle so they are not left stranded or inconvenienced. For people with an incompatible charger at home, they may want to buy duplicates for convenience, though most adapters cost more than two hundred dollars.
Automakers are not entirely to blame for the number of adapters. CCS and NACS are similar enough that simple dongles suffice for each charging speed, but they differ in important ways that make simplification unlikely. With NACS, electricity passes through two large pins regardless of charging speed. But with CCS, it passes through one set of pins for Level 2 speeds and another for fast charging. Merging Level 2 and fast charging capability into a single charger would likely require power electronics that would raise the price considerably.
Controversies over new plug standards are not new. Apple has sold iPhones with three different connector types, and the product has not yet celebrated its twentieth birthday. But the cadence in consumer electronics is much faster than in automotive, and the costs are a lot lower. The typical smartphone owner pays five hundred to one thousand dollars and buys a new device every two to three years. Dongles cost about thirty dollars. That thirty-pin dock cable from a twelve-year-old iPhone 4 is long forgotten.
The average car or light truck is not so easily traded. Prices have soared to nearly fifty thousand dollars for a new vehicle, which is part of the reason the average car or truck on the road in the U.S. is over twelve years old. Automakers have started the transition, but they do not appear to be rushing to finish it. So far, GM has announced two EVs that will use the NACS charging standard: the 2026 Cadillac Optiq and the 2027 Chevrolet Bolt. The automaker has not put a timeline on when it will migrate its remaining twelve EV models to the new standard.
In other words, get comfortable with the dongles. The transition, Ash admitted, will take some time.