NACS Fast Charger Deployment Accelerates in 2026

The US now has over 76,000 publicly accessible DC fast-charging ports, according to data from the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) as of September 1, 2026. The year has seen significant movement in the deployment of different connector standards, with the Tesla-developed NACS (now standardized as SAE J3400) gaining substantial ground outside its original network.

Connector Growth in 2026

The first eight months of 2026 saw a net increase of over 5,000 NACS DC fast-charging connectors across the country. A notable shift is that non-Tesla charging networks deployed more NACS connectors than Tesla itself during this period. The net increase for CCS1 connectors was also strong, while the older CHAdeMO standard continued its decline.

The AFDC's figures for the net change in DC fast-charging connectors from January through August 2026 are as follows:

The Current Charging Landscape

Public NACS connectors now number more than 42,500 in the United States, including those that are temporarily unavailable. This total gives NACS a lead over CCS1, which has over 37,000 connectors. The dominance of Tesla's Supercharger network, with roughly 38,000 connectors, is the primary driver behind NACS's overall size.

However, the growth of NACS on non-Tesla networks is the real story of the year. Non-Tesla NACS connectors recently exceeded 4,500. This figure is up sharply from fewer than a thousand a year ago and about 1,800 at the start of 2026. In contrast, the CHAdeMO connector count has fallen below 8,500, down from over 9,000 a year earlier.

Market Share Estimates

Tesla's NACS Superchargers alone represent approximately half of all DC fast-charging ports in the nation. When combined with non-Tesla chargers using the connector, NACS is estimated to hold about a 56% share of the total DC fast-charging connector market. The source notes that "the total number of ports (over 76,000) and connectors doesn’t match, since not all connectors can be used simultaneously."

Within non-Tesla DC fast-charging networks specifically, the penetration of the NACS standard is much lower. Its share among these independent networks is estimated to be closer to 12%. This indicates that while NACS is growing rapidly, CCS1 deployment remains strong due to the large existing fleet of CCS1-compatible electric vehicles. The report states that CCS1 expansion is expected to slow in the coming years, even as deployment continues.

The road to a single connector standard for light-duty EVs in the US is long. The data for 2026, however, shows clear progress. NACS deployment is accelerating at scale by companies other than Tesla for the first time.