Hyundai, Kia and Genesis automobiles had been noticed doing a photoshoot whereas “charging” at a Supercharger at this time, resulting in hypothesis about whether or not the manufacturers could also be able to announce a joint transfer to Tesla’s NACS charging connector.
NACS has been taking up the charging world ever since Ford’s announcement that it will undertake the connector again in Could. Quickly after, GM made the identical announcement, and since then many different producers have joined in.
Nevertheless, heretofore, the Korean automakers haven’t made an identical announcement. Hyundai and Kia have an advanced relationship, with Hyundai proudly owning a couple of third of Kia and Kia proudly owning an enormous chunk of key Hyundai suppliers. And they also find yourself promoting many comparable automobiles – notably their EVs, which exist on shared platforms (the Ioniq 5/EV6 and Ioniq 7/EV9 are each on the shared E-GMP platform).
This platform is thought for its fast-charging prowess, and between effectivity, fast charging velocity and a broad cost curve, the platform could be the fastest-charging on the highway proper now, relying on the way you measure it.
However the issue is that it makes use of SAE CCS charging, which is solely inferior to Tesla’s community. Not essentially due to the gear, however as a result of Tesla’s Supercharger places are simply higher general.
So, if automobiles on Hyundai/Kia’s glorious E-GMP platform had been linked to an easy-to-use, ubiquitous, and quick charging community…
Absolutely the businesses have considered the identical factor, and at this time we’ve got a reasonably clear indication that they’ve, and that an announcement could also be imminent.
Unreleased Hyundai/Kia automobiles noticed taking photographs at a Tesla supercharger
A submit appeared on reddit at this time exhibiting a Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, Genesis GV60 (Genesis is a division of Hyundai), and Kia EV9 “charging” at a Tesla Supercharger, with photographs being taken whereas they do.
The shoot occurred on the San Clemente supercharger, which is a reasonably low visitors charger by Southern California requirements. The automobiles had been occupying the older v2 superchargers, probably each so that they wouldn’t should compete with charging automobiles and for the aesthetic background:
![](https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/09/miuqz719g7rb1.jpg-1.webp)
![](https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/09/73fjwivyl7rb1.jpeg-1.webp)
![](https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2023/09/0pso3619g7rb1.jpg-1.webp)
Notably, the EV9 continues to be unreleased (it’s anticipated to hit the highway this quarter, and we simply realized its $54,900 beginning worth this week), so whereas we will’t see whether or not it has producer license plates, this automotive should be owned by the corporate. So we all know that Kia was concerned on this photoshoot.
u/Baayta, who posted the photographs to reddit, mentioned that the automobiles had a “thingy” within the charging port to “pretend” charging for the photoshoot. The poster additionally acknowledged that the photographers did verify they work for Hyundai, and Hyundai’s US headquarters is comparatively close by in Fountain Valley, CA.
So, why may these automobiles be taking photographs at a Tesla supercharger? Particularly if they’re presently not able to charging there?
It appears probably that an announcement is coming quickly from the businesses, fairly probably/in all probability a joint announcement of a shift to NACS.
We don’t know but what kind this may are available – another producers have mentioned they may begin by providing an adapter within the coming yr or so, after which placing the connector on the automobile within the 2025 mannequin yr.
We reached out to Hyundai and Kia for remark, and Hyundai responded saying that “we’re at all times evaluating obtainable know-how options that might enhance the shopper expertise, however don’t have something to announce at the moment.”
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