Hyundai Motor Group is racing to place Tesla’s NACS charging port in its Hyundai, Kia and Genesis electrical automobiles.
5 fashions happening sale quickly will come outfitted with the Tesla-designed port.
Hyundai and Kia officers informed InsideEVs the transfer was all about destroying a key barrier to EV adoption: dangerous 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 outfitted 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 normal is effectively underway. And HMG is main the cost.
“A large barrier to entry is infrastructure accessibility, so I feel it was form of a straightforward 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, informed InsideEVs in an interview. “You see the necessity. You see the chance. It’s now out there. Why wait?”
Picture by: InsideEVs
Hyundai’s manufacturers have introduced 5 automobiles up to now that’ll come from the manufacturing unit 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 can be within the coming months.
Additionally, from Hyundai’s previous statements and pictures, we will presume that an up to date Ioniq 6 sedan may even use the NACS plug: “In the USA, 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 absolutely assist the ultra-fast charging speeds on Hyundai’s superior Electrical-World Modular Platform (E-GMP) automobiles, together with Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and the upcoming EV fashions.”
Tesla sells 5 shopper fashions, all outfitted 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 by way of wi-fi, inductive charging.
With this transfer, the Hyundai Motor Group has beat mainly the whole auto {industry} to the punch. Whereas all main automakers have mentioned 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 had been solely for Tesla house owners, and different vehicles had 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 clients entry—first by way of adapters, and later by way of NACS ports constructed natively into their automobiles.
Picture by: Hyundai
Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 at Tesla Supercharger station in San Clemente, California
The corporate wished to maneuver shortly since entry to EV charging is without doubt one of the largest hurdles going through wider EV adoption, Kia and Hyundai officers informed InsideEVs. By linking up with Tesla, house owners of Hyundais and different taking part 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, informed InsideEVs final week. “Which one ought to be the usual? Don’t know, don’t care. Proper now there’s extra of these chargers,” he mentioned, referring to Tesla Superchargers.
Picture by: InsideEVs
Timing was additionally on the corporate’s facet, the officers mentioned. The Ioniq 9 is a brand-new mannequin popping out subsequent spring, whereas others had been due for mid-cycle refreshes anyway. That introduced the chance to modify up the charging port. Within the EV6’s case, Kia additionally moved its charging port from the correct rear to the left rear, mirroring Tesla’s setup for its vehicles. EVs with their ports somewhere else generally want to dam a number of Supercharger stalls simply to plug in, and Kia wished to make Supercharging extra handy.
In the meantime, different manufacturers haven’t been as fast to roll out NACS-native vehicles. Ford refreshed the Mustang Mach-E crossover for the 2024 mannequin yr, so it missed the boat. Common 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 normal. These tasks had been all probably deep into growth when all of the Tesla offers kicked off.
Picture 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 vehicles quickly sufficient. Going ahead, all of its new and refreshed EVs offered within the U.S. will come from the manufacturing unit 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 part of the occasion quickly.
Contact the writer: tim.levin@insideevs.com
