The North American Charging Standard for electric vehicles was popularized and open-sourced by Tesla, and on Thursday, Hyundai Motor North America, Kia America, and Genesis Motor North America all announced that they would be adopting the standard. Hyundai claims that this will provide its customers access to over 12,000 additional Tesla Superchargers across North America, thereby doubling the size of the DC fast charging network available to them.
Tesla’s NACS Charging Port to be The Standard Equipment For Many EV Companies
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, made a promise in 2014 to open-source the company’s patents and technologies in an effort to hasten and increase EV adoption. This promise culminated in a late 2022 announcement that Tesla would make its EV charging connection and protocols, renamed the North American Charging Standard, available to any automaker willing to adopt it. Following Ford’s announcement, several automakers, including Hyundai Motor Group, also declared their intention to implement the NACS link.
Hyundai, Genesis, and Kia’s American operating divisions all made nearly identical intentions public in separate releases. Hyundai and Genesis have announced that beginning in the fourth quarter of 2024, the NACS port will be standard equipment on all new and refurbished electric vehicles sold in the United States. Initial sales of electric vehicles in Canada are expected to begin around 2025. According to Kia’s plan, the company will begin offering only electric vehicles in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in the fourth quarter of 2024. With this setup, the EVs will be able to utilize DC fast charging at any of Tesla’s Supercharger locations in North America.
However, if you own a Kia EV6, Ioniq 5, or Genesis GV60, you shouldn’t sell it just yet. The Hyundai Motor Group’s nine electric vehicles that use the existing Combined Charging System standard will be compatible with Tesla Superchargers beginning in 2025 thanks to the availability of a CCS1-to-NACS converter at dealerships. The cost of the converter has not yet been disclosed.
