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J3400
blueberry with NACS cables
The decision to open the Tesla connector definitions to all manufacturers drove many vehicle OEMs to announce their support of the new standard, and several DCFC manufacturers followed suit. The SAE used the Tesla definition of the NACS (North America Charging Standard) and turned it into a published standard called J3400 in record time.
For Charging Point Operators and DC charging manufacturers this was an interesting opportunity. One that some manufacturers had been trying to get for several years already, but without any notice from Tesla. This new standard, J3400, opens the possibility for a site owner to have DC chargers that can support more types of vehicles. In i-charging’s case, we started with the obvious pair in 2019, CHAdeMO / CCS, including CCS1 and CCS2 variations according to the region. Shortly after, some countries in Latin America and other places started asking for the GB/T connector for the Chinese cars they were importing. Hearing that new demand, i-charging included that option in our blueberry chargers. As CharIN has said before, adapters were proving to be a dangerous alternative.
Then the new J3400 standard was welcomed, and we saw from our customers and prospects in the US that the decision for a site owner to include NACS / J3400 and CCS connectors on the same site was a no-brainer. If you are trying to increase utilization rates, tapping into the most common brand is obvious.
The technical challenge was not difficult. The J3400 defines a communication method that is basically the same as the CCS standard, and this allowed our R&D team to quickly say, “yes, it works”. We could charge a Tesla vehicle with our blueberry chargers. Tesla supported EVSE manufacturers and OEMs by providing prototyping material like cables, plugs, receptacles etc.
Having the standard published was harder, but it did not take too long. Cable manufacturers were popping up with NACS plugs and with the respective UL certifications a couple of months later. But this was not the last step… Our equipment had to go through UL validation again to include in the Intertek’s ATM (Authorization To Mark) document the reference to cable manufacturers supporting NACS at 200A and 250A. It became valid and dated May 28, 2024, and since then the i-charging blueberry range of chargers bears the ETL mark for combinations of CCS-1, NACS and CHAdeMO, although the latter is less and less demanded by the market.
In our blueberry units we use a unique solution for the cable holders. The holder is designed to fit the shape of the connector without extra wear on the pins of the connector. A new holder was developed to hold the smaller J3400 connector.
We deployed the first unit at our offices at the Curiosity Lab in Peachtree Corners, GA. There we did the first tests with Tesla vehicles equipped with their native receptacle and our J3400 connector. Note that for the tests in Europe, it is not easy to find a Tesla with NACS, they all have CCS-2.
One last item arose when we put ourselves in the position of a Tesla driver asking, “does my Tesla model support the J3400 / NACS plug?”.
This last question may seem strange, but the fact is that not all Tesla vehicles are J3400 compatible. For four of the models (S, 3, X, Y) there are older model years that do not support the communication standard used in the CCS and the new J3400. To find that out before having a failed attempt at charging, the driver must verify in their car information system what it says about “third party chargers”. The Tesla manual instructs the driver to navigate to Controls > Software > Additional Vehicle Information > CCS and 3rd-party NACS DC Fast Charging Support. There one can see if the car has this function Enabled / Not Enabled / Not compatible and proceed accordingly.
This seemed a bit complex to write on a sticker near the plug. We used our large 32” screen to show a video with a clear indication that there is a NACS connector and to present a QR code that takes the driver directly to the part of the manual that explains this.
The same information is shown on the top of the screen while the driver is interacting with the charger.
In conclusion, i-charging successfully implemented the new standard to better serve our customers and their drivers with the expected proliferation of the J3400 connector. This effort coincides well with our mission to provide excellent charging infrastructure solutions to further electric mobility.