Last year automaker after automaker agreed to use Tesla’s Charging System, more precisely the unique plug. They did this, of course, to gain access to the Supercharger network, and Tesla certainly welcomed the expected cash that should roll in with it. However, this left EV owners whose vehicles still had the non-Tesla ports twisting in the wind.
ChargePoint’s new Omni Port will begin showing up on new chargers later this year as well as being retrofitted to existing units.
Yes, many are scrambling to produce adapters for their J1772 or CCS1 charging ports, but as the new vehicles come online with the Tesla port, now known as the North American Charging Standard. However, they’re not alone. Charging companies not named Tesla have been using what is now expected to be an outdated technology.
So many will be converting their chargers over to the NACS, but that will leave older owners waiting for adapters that often don’t work well or offer the same charging speeds and other benefits they will want.
ChargePoint just revealed its new Omni Port aimed at ensuring any EV owner can use its thousands of EV charging stations across the U.S., regardless of what kind of charging port their vehicle has without the worry or hassle of using an adapter. The new chargers as well as adapters for existing stations will arrive before the end of the year, officials said.
More options
A lack of charging stations is one of the pain points slowing the adoption of electric vehicles, according to a variety of surveys conducted during the past 12 to 18 months. Making the shift to the Tesla charging standard opened up a massive network of high-speed chargers.
Tesla owners won’t need to use their converters, which they no longer get for free when purchasing a new Tesla.
Now with the Omni Port, the millions of EVs on the road not ready to use the new NACS need not worry about a major charging provider leaving them out of the shift.
“Across hardware and software, ChargePoint is bringing to market innovative solutions that ensure all drivers who need to charge are able to do so,” said Rick Wilmer, CEO of ChargePoint.
“With Omni port, ChargePoint solved the challenges associated with a multiple connector environment, ensuring Tesla and non-Tesla drivers can continue to expect a world-class driver experience. We are giving drivers and site hosts assurance that ChargePoint will continue to meet all their charging needs now and in the future.”
What’s coming
ChargePoint brags the new Omni Port is the “only publicly available solution to solve North America’s EV connector confusion across AC and DC charging, enabling drivers of all makes of vehicles to charge at the same station by combining the most prevalent connector types into each charging port.”
Ford was the first competitor to negotiate a deal with Tesla giving it access to the Supercharger network.
The new technology ensures new and old EVs will be able to use the stations, and will be incorporated into select ChargePoint AC and DC charging stations at no additional cost, according to the company.
The Omni Port works with all makes of vehicles, officials claim, and will be built into ChargePoint AC and DC charging architecture featuring cable management that reaches a charge port no matter where it is on the vehicle. This resolves a current problem with non-Tesla vehicles using Tesla Superchargers.
While Tesla reconfigures some stations to allow non-Tesla EVs and Teslas to charge side-by-side without a problem, right now some Tesla owners complain that they are losing available charge points because they cannot sit next to some other EVs due to the location of the other vehicle’s charging port.
This also doesn’t resolve the issues surrounding charger reliability and availability. Another bottleneck with EV adoption is the recurring problem of chargers that do not work or don’t work at full speed once drivers arrive at the station.
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Future and past
Demand for EV charging stations is strong, but plenty of companies are working to try to catch up to demand.
To further make it easier to use ChargePoint chargers, the company is making it so owners do not a dedicated ChargePoint app if they prefer to use a credit card instead. Also for the few vehicles on the road — and the future ones coming — with 800 volt architecture, Omni Port can handle it, thus ensuring max charging speeds for sustained periods of time.
There are more than 5.5 million EVs on North American roads, and more than half are equipped with J1772 or CCS1 charging ports. These vehicles will continue needing public charger access for years to come.
As automakers attempt to align on a single connector type for the future, these 5.5 million drivers need assurance that they will be able to charge when they need to, officials contend.
“Omni port gives drivers and station owners peace of mind by combining these most common connector types into a single solution, meeting EV driver needs without having to dedicate parking spaces to specific connector types,” the company said.
Now, if they can only get their charging station reliable.