With its popular and well-regarded Ioniq lineup, Hyundai has been conspicuously absent from the list of major automakers signing on to use Tesla’s North America Charging Standard (NACS). Now, the Korean automaker has announced that it has reached a deal to adopt NACS in North America starting in Q4 2024 in the US, with Canada to follow in the first half of 2025.
Hyundai’s EVs with a NACS port will gain access to more than 12,000 Superchargers across North America, doubling the number of DC fast chargers available to customers. “This new alliance will provide Hyundai EV owners confidence in their ability to conveniently charge their vehicles… with at least 30,000 stations across North America,” said Hyundai Motor North America CEO José Muñoz.
Upcoming Hyundai EVs equipped with NACs, including the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and upcoming Ioniq 7, will gain access to the chargers in late 2024. New and older CCS charger-equipped vehicles will be able to use them in the first quarter of 2025, the company said.
Along with access to Tesla’s network, Hyundai is teaming up with BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai and Mercedes to develop a North American network with at least 30,000 chargers. The first US stations are set to open in the summer of 2024, with chargers in Canada following at a later date.
The lack of fast chargers has been a high hurdle for EV adoption, so most automakers have looked at Tesla as at least a stopgap solution. Hyundai Motors (including Kia) recently overtook GM for second place in US EV sales, but it’s still a distant second to Tesla, which sold 300,000 more EVs last year.
So far, major automakers that have now signed up to use Tesla’s Supercharger network include Hyundai, Fisker, Ford, GM, Honda, Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Polestar, Rivian and Volvo. Those still in talks reportedly include Stellantis and Volkswagen.
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