Texas Again Delays Vote On Tying EV Charging Funds To Tesla's NACS

This is the second time a vote is postponed, and opposition from EV charging companies is said to be the reason.

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Dan Mihalascu

By: Dan Mihalascu

Jul 12, 2023 at 8:21am ET

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Texas has reportedly delayed a vote on grants of federal funds to build EV chargers to August 16 after several charging companies protested the plan to include Tesla's NACS connector in charging stations.

A Reuters report cited three unnamed sources who claimed the vote was postponed because of the pushback from EV charging companies.

Texas' department of transportation confirmed that the issue was removed from the agency's July agenda "at the discretion of the commissioners," adding that the agenda for the August meeting had not been finalized. The vote in Texas could be key as it could influence other states to do the same.

On June 21, Texas announced plans to mandate EV charging companies to include Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) alongside the US standard Combined Charging System (CCS) if they wanted access to federal funds as part of a program to electrify highways.

However, days later, EV charger makers and operators including ChargePoint, FLO, ABB, FreeWire, and EVBox, criticized the plan, calling it "premature."

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In a letter to Texas Transportation Commission's chairman, the companies said more time was needed to test the interoperability of Tesla's connectors with the CCS standard.

Before the latest postponement, the vote had already been delayed once to July 11 from June 29 after members of Texas' transport commission, including the chairman, said they wanted to understand NACS and its implications before voting on the issue.

"We do think the reason why this decision is being punted is there is reaction within the industry that this is a big announcement and let's just do this responsibly," an unnamed executive from an EV charging company told Reuters.

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The same source said that "Texas is a bit of a bulwark" and what Texas does "sets a precedent for other state transport departments." So far, Washington state has talked about similar plans and Kentucky has mandated that EV charging companies include Tesla's plug.

The federal funds for EV charging stations require charging companies to offer CCS, but plans to adopt Tesla's NACS connector by Ford and General Motors have prompted other carmakers and charging companies to embrace the technology.