Elon Musk Has Last Laugh On US EV Charging Despite EU's Refusal Of Tesla's Design

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk said on Thursday that though the company tried ‘very hard’ to get the European Union to consider the Tesla charging design, it refused.

What Happened: Tesla’s design is “fundamentally better in every way for consumers,” Musk said. The CEO was responding to a Twitter user asking if the General Motors- Tesla collaboration announced earlier in the day is the end of the rival Combined Charging System (CCS) for charging EVs.

“We tried very hard to get EU to consider the Tesla (now NACS) design, as it is fundamentally better in every way for consumers, but the transport minister said "a committee decided the standard years ago" (sigh),” Musk wrote.

Responding to a meme titled ‘RIP CCS’ posted on Twitter earlier, Musk said, “Thank goodness! North America will have a way better connector for charging cars than rest of world.”

See Also: Ross Gerber Thinks GM’s Decision To Adopt Tesla’s EV Charging System ‘Is Checkmate’ — ‘This Is Setting A Standard’

Why It Matters: In a Twitter Spaces with Musk earlier in the day, General Motors Co GM CEO Mary Barra announced a collaboration between the two automakers to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) for EVs. General Motors said in a statement that it will integrate the NACS connector design into its EVs starting in 2025 which will expand access to charging for GM EV drivers at 12,000 Tesla Superchargers stations. Ford Motor Co F announced a similar collaboration with Tesla last month.

Tesla charging connector is half the size and twice as powerful as CCS connectors. NACS vehicles outnumber CCS two-to-one and Tesla’s Supercharging network has 60% more NACS posts than all the CCS-equipped networks combined, Tesla said in a blog in November.

Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read More: Elon Musk Touts Tesla’s In-Car Hospital Grade HEPA Filters After Wildfire Smoke Envelops US East Coast