Stellantis says it is evaluating Tesla's charging standard

By Joseph White and Norihiko Shirouzu

DETROIT/AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) -Automaker Stellantis said on Tuesday that it continues to evaluate Tesla's charging standard after Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co said they were adopting it.

"At this time, we continue to evaluate the NACS standard and look forward to discussing more in the future," Stellantis said in a statement to Reuters, referring to Tesla's charging design, the North American Charging Standard (NACS).

"Our focus is to provide the customer the best charging experience possible. Our Free2Move Charge brand will offer seamless, simple solutions whether at home or on-the-go through partnerships with charging providers," it said.

GM said last week it would join Ford in adopting Tesla's previously proprietary North American Charging Standard (NACS), which is set to dominate about 60% of the U.S. EV market with the partnerships.

A flurry of electric vehicle charging equipment makers subsequently said they would offer chargers with Tesla's connector, adding momentum to the NACS in a charging standard war.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a conference in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday that opening up its exclusive charging networks "might be actually competitive disadvantage," but doing so would "help the rest of the industry."

"I think it’s morally right, but (whether) it’s financially smart remains to be seen," he said.

In the meantime, he said Tesla does not expect to produce its Semi electric trucks in large volume until sometime next year, because of the need to ensure a sufficient battery supply for the model, which uses larger batteries than a passenger car.

In December, Musk delivered the long-delayed Semi to PepsiCo without offering updated forecasts for the truck's pricing, production plans or how much cargo it could haul. Musk previously said Tesla would aim to produce 50,000 of the trucks in 2024.

(Reporting by Joe White in Detroit and Norihiko Shirouzu in Austin, Writing by Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Chizu Nomiyama)