Tesla Supercharger Network Welcomes Rivian Owners

• Tesla Supercharger network is now open to Rivian owners, who will need an adapter for NACS ports.

• Rivian has integrated its billing system into the Supercharger network, offering plug-and-charge capability.

• NACS ports will be installed in new Rivian models starting in 2025.

Starting this week, Rivian owners will have access to Tesla's Supercharger network, with Rivian being one of nearly two dozen automakers that had revealed plans last summer to adopt Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS).

This means over 15,000 Superchargers will be open to Rivian owners, with the automaker saying it will start distributing NACS DC adapters in April free of charge.

But those who have the CCS to NACS adapters at the moment can begin using the network with plug-and-charge convenience—Rivian has already integrated its billing system into the Supercharger network.

"Because we handle our charging hardware and software in-house, we can seamlessly integrate most fast chargers—including the Supercharger network—into our charging ecosystem," Rivian noted.

The Superchargers will also start showing up on Rivian's navigation system, making it easier to plan trips.

Starting in 2025, Rivian plans to integrate NACS ports into its vehicles, and of course this will include the recently revealed R2 and R3 models that will arrive in 2026 and 2027.

Rivian has also invested in building its own charging network, dubbed the Rivian Adventure Network, just for the exclusive use of Rivian owners, with plans for a total of 3500 fast chargers. Yet another network being built by the EV maker is dubbed Rivian Waypoints, and it's designed to be accessible to all EV owners, albeit offering slower charging speeds.

Quite a few EV makers have now struck deals with Tesla for their owners (and lessees) to use the Supercharger network, with most of them promising a 2024 start time for accessibility. But not all EV owners can expect to get adapters for free forever, as we have found out with Ford.

By the end of this year the mix of cars at Supercharger stations should look very different, and perhaps we'll see some real lines of cars to use the stations. That's not something a lot of Tesla owners are looking forward to, perhaps, but it is something Elon Musk promised to do years ago to encourage EV adoption.

Tesla might need to double its Supercharger network by the end of the decade at this rate, as the list of automakers that have signed up to use it is quite long already.

Will Tesla Supercharger access motivate more buyers to choose EVs, or are other factors like price more important? Let us know what you think.