Toyota joins the growing number of automakers set to adopt Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) for EV charging connectors. The transition to the NACS framework will begin in 2025, and will be offered to owners of Toyota and Lexus electric vehicles in North America.
These owners will then have access to Tesla's North American network of supercharger stations, currently numbering about 12,000.
Earlier this week, recall, the BMW Group made a similar announcement . Other manufacturers who have already confirmed their adoption of the NACS connection standard include the Hyundai Group (Hyundai, Kia and Genesis) and General Motors (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC), as well as Nissan/Infiniti, Volvo, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Jaguar, Land Rover, Honda/Acura, Ford and Rivian.
The list of NACS holdouts is shrinking by the week. Still not onboard are Mazda, Subaru and, especially, the Stellantis (Alfa Romeo, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Ram) and Volkswagen (Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Porsche, Volkswagen) groups, and very few others. We have to think it’s just a matter of time for those automakers.
Toyota plans to integrate NACS-compatible ports into certain Toyota and Lexus electric models from 2025. One of these models will be Toyota's future three-row electric SUV.
Currently, Toyota and Lexus mobile applications allow customers of these brands to locate and access some 84,000 charging points in North America, including Level 2 chargers and DC fast chargers. With the adoption of the NACS standard, the number of accessible DC fast chargers will increase significantly.
Adapters for existing owners
Customers who already own or lease Toyota and Lexus vehicles equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS) won’t be left out in the cold. EV and PHEV owners will be able to obtain an adapter to facilitate NACS-based charging.
Will those be free of charge? Will customers be paying for them? That’s not clear, and it remains a question mark with most of the carmakers who have made the leap into accommodating Tesla’s NACS network. We’ll see.