Several automakers recently announced that they will adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS). This includes Genesis, Hyundai, and Kia — the latter of which said electric vehicle owners of the brand will have access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across North America.
In a news release, Kia said it plans to build the NACS port into new EVs sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico to allow drivers to use more high-speed chargers than what is currently available to them. So far, they announced that the NACS is expected to start production within U.S.-assembled Kia EVs as of the fourth quarter of 2024.
“Having this kind of sprawling access to chargers will no doubt boost customer satisfaction, elevate the EV ownership experience, and enable drivers to reach more destinations across the continent on electricity,” said Seungkyu (Sean) Yoon, President and CEO of Kia North America and Kia America.
The company plans to make CCS1-to-NACS (Combined Charging System) adapters to allow most of its EVs1 models to charge on Tesla’s network. Those adapters, they said, will be made available through their dealers starting in the first quarter of 2025. Drivers should also have access and autopay options via the Kia Connect3 app, pending a software upgrade.
Genesis and Hyundai made their announcement the same day as Kia; they all plan to debut the NACS port on their models starting in the fourth quarter of 2024. They are among several OEMs to announce this year that they will adopt the NACS; Honda made an announcement in September. And outside the OEM world, supplier Electrify America made their announcement in June.
