Washington is mulling plans to make Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug mandatory for EV charging companies at all of the state-funded as well as federally-funded sites in the future. Tesla has been on the forefront in setting up fast charging network across United States. The company has recently signed up an agreement with Ford to share the charging infrastructure. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has indicated in the past that it is possible that Tesla Motors opens up its supercharger network to other automobile companies. This will help in improving charging access to EV owners across different automobile brands.

Tonia Buell, the alternative fuels program manager for Washington State, recently confirmed that the state wants to mandate the NACS connection for charging companies that want to use state and federal funding to build and expand their charging networks.

The announcements from the Lone Star State and Evergreen State came after recent announcements from Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and EV start-up Rivian’s statements that they had plans to ditch the Combined Charging System (CCS) connection for EV charging in favour of Tesla's NACS plug. South Korea-headquartered Hyundai and European automotive giant Stellantis are also considering NACS for their EVs, while Lucid is still hesitant because of its higher-voltage batteries.

It is worth-noting here that Washington is not the first state to place such an emphasis on Tesla's NACS connection. In fact, it is following the footsteps of Texas that has already decided to mandate Tesla’s NACS plug to bring uniformity in charging networks. The Lone Star State made the announcement for the same thing just a few days back. Clearly, Tesla has the advantage and the company has been quick to make decisions. Elon Musk is a smart businessman and he knows how to reach out to his target market. Tesla doesn’t spend any money on advertising and still, it is one of the most recognized brands across the world, even in markets where Tesla is not present. Musk is also known to get things done his way from the government authorities. In this case with NACS, it will be beneficial for the whole Electric Vehicle and Charging segment.

However, Washington State’s decision is not set in concreate yet. Buell admitted that some additional steps are yet to be considered and finalized. However, alternative fuels program manager for the Evergreen State declared that state authorities wanted to make sure that their plan to NACS plug mandatory for charging companies become a reality sooner or later.

Speaking on the topic, Buell said, "It hasn't necessarily been tested and certified for other auto manufacturers, so we want to make sure it's going to work but we are planning to require NACS at our state-funded and federally-funded sites in the future."

Undoubtedly, the change will apply only to EV charging companies that want to use state and federal funds for building new vehicle charging stations in the country. Of course, government are offering major incentives for that, including $7.5 billion available for the creating and developing charging infrastructure. Under the federal government’s norms, companies are required to have a minimum of four CCS connections per site, but there is no such limit for NACS plugs. However, the CCS requirement would have also applied to Tesla of it seeks federal funds for its super-fast charging locations.