Rivian announces next-gen DC fast charger for all EVs

Rivian has introduced a next-gen DC fast charger for electric vehicles (EVs) designed to support all EVs alongside the company’s own.

An early look reveals the design of this prototype and it is built in-house from scratch. The charger has native hardware support for most EV brands in the US and Canada.

This new charger is tall and brings longer cables to reach different sizes of vehicles and charging ports. It will support 400 and 800-volt packs with CCS connectors.

This CCS connector supports North American Charging Standards (NACS) vehicles with an adapter. Rivian said that support for a native NACS connector (SAE J3400) will come with a future version. However, it will require a hardware upgrade.

Next-Gen Rivian DC Fast Charger (Image Source – Rivian)

This charger equips a large display to see important logs and allows tap-to-pay functionality for an easy payment system. It means users can pay with or without the Rivian mobile app. This new charger is built at Rivian’s Normal, Illinois manufacturing facility and operates with 100% renewable energy.

The EV maker will install this next-gen charger in all the new Adventure Network charging sites. It will also upgrade the existing sites with new units. Furthermore, this new site will sport trailer-friendly chargers to accommodate vehicles that are towing.

Opening Charging Network

Rivian has announced that it will open its Adventure Network charging infrastructure to third-party EVs later this year. It is planned to add more than 3,500 DC fast chargers at 600 sites across the US and Canada.

These chargers are capable of charging 140 miles of range in 20 minutes to R1T and R1S. Similar charging could be achieved on other EVs when launched.

Rivian could also qualify for national initiatives such as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program (NEVI). This will help the company to get the required support to develop better EV charging infrastructure in the future.

(source)