Rivian announced today that it has reached an agreement with Tesla to allow its owners to use Tesla’s charging network in the U.S.. It will still continue to build its own chargers, which it calls the Rivian Adventure Network, but now, Rivian owners will also be able to use Tesla’s estimated 12,000 Superchargers, as well.
Or at least they will eventually. Rivian says it expects to have an adaptor available “as early as spring 2024.” So if you saw this news and got excited about being able to Supercharge your R1S on an upcoming road trip, you’re in for some disappointment. Starting in 2025, Rivian says it will make Tesla’s North American Charging Standard ports standard on the R1T and R1S, as well as the smaller R2 that it plans to add to the lineup.
Today we signed an agreement with @Tesla to adopt the North American Charging Standard. This opens charging for Rivian vehicles on Tesla’s Supercharger network across the United States and Canada. Access starts as soon as Spring 2024. https://t.co/Z5SBOFytgy pic.twitter.com/fWOMNtpkYs
— Rivian (@Rivian) June 20, 2023
That means Rivian will join a growing number of automakers, including Ford and General Motors, that plan to offer their owners access to one of the only somewhat reliable charging networks in the country. Even Hyundai’s reportedly looking to make the same move. Ideally, no one would be giving any of their money to Elon Musk, but at the same time, other charging networks are so unreliable, it’s understandable that automakers would see the value in giving their customers access to the Supercharger network.
And it looks like current Rivian owners also support the move. A recent poll on the Rivian Owners Forum showed that more than three-quarters of members thought that Rivian should switch to NACS charge ports. Only 16.1 per cent of members who participated in the poll disagreed. So at least for now, it looks like Rivian made the right business decision.
It will also be interesting to see how Tesla owners react as more non-Teslas gain access to their Superchargers. Lines and longer waits seem inevitable, and it would be understandable that they’d be frustrated when forced to wait for a non-Tesla to finish charging. Hopefully, though, it doesn’t lead any fights or attempts at sabotage.
There’s no word on when Rivian will be coming to Australia, but it’s certainly interesting to see so many car companies gravitating to Tesla’s charger.