- Hyundai Motor Group is racing to place Tesla’s NACS charging port in its Hyundai, Kia and Genesis electrical autos.
- 5 fashions happening sale quickly will come geared up with the Tesla-designed port.
- Hyundai and Kia officers advised InsideEVs the transfer was all about destroying a key barrier to EV adoption: unhealthy charging entry.
The Hyundai Motor Group has quickly emerged as one of many largest challengers to Tesla’s EV dominance. It’s nonetheless a distant second when it comes to U.S. EV gross sales. However the South Korean automaker is nipping at Tesla’s heels in one other method: Electrical fashions geared up with Tesla’s charging port design, often called the North American Charging Customary (NACS).
HMG’s manufacturers—that’s Hyundai, Kia and Genesis—are about to promote as many NACS-equipped fashions as Tesla itself does. It’s a sign that the auto industry-wide migration to NACS from the older commonplace is nicely underway. And HMG is main the cost.
“A large barrier to entry is infrastructure accessibility, so I believe it was type of a simple one to say, ‘Hey, if we’re going to do it, let’s do it fast,’” Andre Ravinowich, senior supervisor of product planning at Hyundai, advised InsideEVs in an interview. “You see the necessity. You see the chance. It’s now obtainable. Why wait?”
Photograph by: InsideEVs
Hyundai’s manufacturers have introduced 5 autos up to now that’ll come from the manufacturing facility with an NACS port, with three making their debut final week on the Los Angeles Auto Present. These are the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5, 2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9, 2025 Kia EV6, 2026 Kia EV9 and 2026 Genesis Electrified GV70. They’re not on the highway fairly but, however will likely be within the coming months.
Additionally, from Hyundai’s previous statements and pictures, we will presume that an up to date Ioniq 6 sedan can even use the NACS plug: “In america, all-new or refreshed Hyundai EVs will come solely with a NACS port, starting in This autumn 2024… Tesla’s dedication to increasing its community will improve buyer entry to out-of-home charging and totally assist the ultra-fast charging speeds on Hyundai’s superior Electrical-International Modular Platform (E-GMP) autos, together with Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and the upcoming EV fashions.”
Tesla sells 5 client fashions, all geared up with the NACS the corporate originated: the Mannequin S, Mannequin X, Mannequin Y, Mannequin 3 and Cybertruck. The Semi, a class-8 truck, makes use of a special plug. Tesla says the Cybercab, an autonomous taxi due out in 2026, gained’t have a port in any respect. It’ll solely juice up via wi-fi, inductive charging.
With this transfer, the Hyundai Motor Group has beat principally your entire auto {industry} to the punch. Whereas all main automakers have stated they’d swap to Tesla’s plug design transferring ahead in alternate for entry to Tesla’s huge Supercharger community, barely any have NACS-equipped fashions hitting roads imminently.
Traditionally, Superchargers have been solely for Tesla homeowners, and different automobiles have been incompatible with them from each a {hardware} and software program perspective. Beginning with Ford final yr, varied carmakers struck offers with Tesla to get their prospects entry—first via adapters, and later via NACS ports constructed natively into their autos.
Photograph by: Hyundai
Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 at Tesla Supercharger station in San Clemente, California
The corporate needed to maneuver shortly since entry to EV charging is likely one of the largest hurdles going through wider EV adoption, Kia and Hyundai officers advised InsideEVs. By linking up with Tesla, homeowners of Hyundais and different collaborating manufacturers will get entry to an extra 17,000 EV charging stalls and counting.
“When it’s one thing that must be universally accessible, you’re not serving to the general public by having an A and a B and never permitting public entry to each,” Steve Middle, Kia America COO and Government Vice President, advised InsideEVs final week. “Which one needs to be the usual? Don’t know, don’t care. Proper now there’s extra of these chargers,” he stated, referring to Tesla Superchargers.
Photograph by: InsideEVs
Timing was additionally on the corporate’s aspect, the officers stated. The Ioniq 9 is a brand-new mannequin popping out subsequent spring, whereas others have been due for mid-cycle refreshes anyway. That offered the chance to modify up the charging port. Within the EV6’s case, Kia additionally moved its charging port from the appropriate rear to the left rear, mirroring Tesla’s setup for its automobiles. EVs with their ports elsewhere generally want to dam a number of Supercharger stalls simply to plug in, and Kia needed to make Supercharging extra handy.
In the meantime, different manufacturers haven’t been as fast to roll out NACS-native automobiles. Ford refreshed the Mustang Mach-E crossover for the 2024 mannequin yr, so it missed the boat. Normal Motors launched a number of new EVs this yr and has a number of coming quickly from Cadillac, however we have not seen any with a local NACS port out of the gate fairly but. Porsche simply began delivering its electrical Macan, which additionally makes use of the previous commonplace. These tasks have been all doubtless deep into improvement when all of the Tesla offers kicked off.
Photograph by: Lucid Motors
Lucid Gravity with Tesla NACS charging port.
Nonetheless, the Gravity, a three-row SUV from the EV startup Lucid Motors, will launch with a NACS port later this yr.
HMG is all however sure to surpass Tesla when it comes to NACS-equipped automobiles quickly sufficient. Going ahead, all of its new and refreshed EVs offered within the U.S. will come from the manufacturing facility with NACS charging. So present fashions just like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Genesis GV60, together with forthcoming ones just like the Kia EV3, ought to be a part of the celebration quickly.
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