Tesla opens up it's charging connector to other manufacturers
Tesla
Tesla removed all the patents in the lobby of its Palo Alto headquarters prompting Elon Musk to explain in a blog, "They have been removed, in the spirit of the open source movement, for the advancement of electric vehicle technology." The post is from 2014; he continued, "Tesla Motors was created to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport." That policy has been held, but some designs have not been for public consumption, including its industry-leading charging connector — until now.
A new post on the Tesla website reiterates Musk's words from eight years ago. "In pursuit of our mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy, today we are opening our EV connector design to the world," states the company. "We invite charging network operators and vehicle manufacturers to put the Tesla charging connector and charge port, now called the North American Charging Standard (NACS), on their equipment and vehicles."
Strategic Play
It is a generous move but also a clever, strategic play. There is no doubt that electric vehicles are here to stay. The question is, what will the nozzle be on the gas pump of the future? With more private companies getting into the EV charging game, this move makes it easy for them to add the Tesla connector to their equipment. Tesla has already been in discussions with some of those companies. The post states, "network operators already have plans in motion to incorporate NACS at their chargers, so Tesla owners can look forward to charging at other networks without adapters.
The company says that its connector, the NACS, is North America's most common charging standard. Tesla states, "NACS vehicles outnumber CCS two-to-one, and Tesla's Supercharging network has 60% more NACS posts than all the CCS-equipped networks combined." EV owners who don't have NACS will have fewer options to charge up. Car manufacturers are already racing to get into the EV game and don't also need to try to play catch up to Tesla's already well-established charging network. Tesla states, "we look forward to future electric vehicles incorporating the NACS design and charging at Tesla's North American Supercharging and Destination Charging networks."
It's ingenious to drop the Tesla brand off and name it the North American Charging Standard. It will make it much easier for competing brands to swallow their pride and use superior technology. The system is the most tested EV charger in the world, and the company reports it has "20 billion EV charging miles to its name." It is also far better than the Combined Charging System (CCS 1), offering twice the power in half the size.
A petition to the U.S House of Representatives was started in July 2022, asking for the Tesla connector to be the charging standard for the U.S. A solar-powered car company named Aptera is behind the Change.org petition that has more than 40,000 signatures. It links to reports showing the Tesla connector wins in every category tested.
While CCS 2 has become the charging standard in Europe, the market is wide-open in North America where the CCS 1 connector has not yet taken off.
There is a comment on the Change.org website worth noting. Eric Stewart posted, "The Tesla connector is what engineers would choose if politics didn't make these things about ego." Now, if NACS is not the standard, it will be crystal clear that Stewart is right.
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Tesla has begun rolling out some map updates, including a brand new geographic area. These updates include two regional map updates, with one confirming Tesla’s entry into India and the other improving the maps in Europe.
Indian Launch
The biggest addition is a new map region for India, which was discovered by Tesla hacker Greentheonly. This move, while seemingly minor, is a prerequisite for Tesla launching vehicles in the region.
For years, discussions about Tesla’s arrival in India have focused on manufacturing plans, import duties, and retail store plans. However, the vehicles themselves must all be technically ready for the region.
This is more than just data entry; it involves integrating local points of interest, Tesla’s internal routing logic, and displaying regional road information correctly. In past market entries, Tesla has activated the necessary navigation regions in its software shortly before officially launching in a country, and just this morning, news broke that Tesla will open its first showroom in India.
On July 15th, Tesla will open its first showroom in Mumbai, marking its entry into the Indian market.
For those who have imported Tesla vehicles in advance of the official market entry, this means they will finally receive official maps and navigation support, and will likely begin receiving official software updates in the near future.
European Maps Update
In addition to the India map update, Tesla has also starting roll out a map update for Europe. The new map update for Europe is version EU-2025.14, bringing users up from EU-2025.2.
You’ll need to connect to WiFi in order to download map updates and similar to software updats, Tesla will roll them out gradually. If you want to learn more about map updates, be sure to check out our Tesla maps and navigaiton guide.
This map update will likely be fairly minor, but it should include newer roads, speed limits and more details. It could also include additional information that’s required for launching FSD in Europe.
While map updates aren’t as exciting as FSD updates or major software updates like the upcoming Grok AI update, they’re especially useful for Tesla owners who travel on new roads that may not be in Tesla’s current map version.
Tesla has officially scheduled its 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting for Thursday, November 6, 2025. The date was confirmed in an 8-K form filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week. Shareholders can expect to begin receiving official notifications by email or letter this week.
While we don’t know what, if anything, is up for vote this year, shareholders should ensure their investment accounts are linked up at ir.tesla.com if they plan to vote on upcoming proposals.
While these meetings cover standard corporate governance, they’ve also become a key venue for Tesla to share updates on its future projects.
Let’s take a look back at Tesla’s 2024 shareholder meeting to see what we can expect for 2025.
A Look Back: Shareholder Meeting 2024
The 2024 Shareholder Meeting was packed with news and updates. Some of the highlights included details on Cybercab, the first mentions of AI5, and the move of Tesla’s incorporation to Texas following the re-ratification of Elon’s 2018 compensation plan.
The 2025 meeting may provide progress updates on several key items.
First up is the final status of Elon Musk’s pay package. While it was successfully re-ratified following the 2024 Meeting, the Court of Delaware ruled against it, creating a legal situation that resulted in Tesla amending its letter of incorporation and moving to Texas.
While the messy legal situation hasn’t been completely sorted out yet, there’s a chance we could see more on this at the 2025 Meeting.
Next up is a status update on the Robotaxi Network pilot, as well as progress for Tesla’s Cybercab program. We’ve seen early prototype castings for the Cybercab outside Giga Texas, and they recently provided an updated timeline in their 2024 Impact Report. This is going to be the next big step for Tesla’s growth as it starts its Robotaxi service business.
The Tesla Semi and Tesla Energy are also two massive programs undergoing upgrades and revamps. The volume production of Semi is supposed to begin by the end of 2025, and Tesla is constantly working on expanding Tesla Energy’s manufacturing footprint to meet the never-ending demand for Megapack and Powerwall. We’re anticipating some major updates here, along with some updates on Tesla’s next-generation battery tech, including the Gen 3 Cybercell that includes dry-cathode manufacturing.
There’s a lot to be excited about - and November 6th is the day we may find out a lot about Tesla’s future products. The meeting will be a big event that we’ll cover in detail, so don’t worry, even if you miss it. We’ll have a full set of recap notes and longer in-depth articles following the event, as usual.
