- Those who purchased a Kia EV after Sept. 4 will get free NACS adapters in 2025
- Kia hasn’t said how much the adapters will cost for everyone else
- Kia EVs will be able to charge at Tesla Superchargers before the end of the first quarter
Kia on Tuesday modified its rollout plan for Tesla North American Charging Standard (NACS) adapters and access to the Tesla Supercharger network.
Customers who take delivery of a 2024 or 2025 Kia EV9 or a 2024 Kia EV6 from Sept. 4, 2024, will receive a free NACS adapter. All other Kia EV owners—including EV6 and EV9 owners who took delivery of their vehicles before the cutoff date, as well as all Kia Niro EV owners—will have to pay an undisclosed price for their adapters.
2024 Kia EV6 GT
Most major car brands have announced plans to adopt the NACS charge port, but only a handful have followed through with plans to offer adapters and Supercharger access. Of those, only General Motors is making all customers pay for adapters. But Kia is being stingier than Ford, which offered one free adapter per vehicle to all existing EV customers initially.
Kia plans to begin shipping adapters in early 2025, and plans to open up Supercharger access by the end of the first quarter. Originally Kia EV owners were to get access to the Supercharger network on January 15, but on the 15th the automaker modified that timeline. Kia’s didn’t specifically mention Tesla or Superchargers, only saying that customers will be able to charge at “more than 16,500 NACS DC fast chargers in the U.S.” That number is based on the count of total NACS connectors by the Energy Department’s Alternative Fuel Data Center (AFDC) as of September 2024.
2023 Kia Niro EV
Most other automakers—Stellantis being the only exception—were quick to mention Tesla in their announcements. Kia is one of the automaker partners in the Ionna North American fast-charging network, which has voiced its commitment to both the NACS and CCS standards. So perhaps Kia is looking to emphasize the idea of NACS connectors that aren’t part of the Supercharger network in anticipated of Ionna’s buildout.
Kia, along with sibling brands Hyundai and Genesis, announced NACS support. Hyundai has started building Ioniq 5 EVs with Tesla NACS charge ports, but Kia did not discuss a timeline for adding NACS ports to its vehicles.
This story was updated to reflect a new timeline for Kia EV access to Tesla’s Supercharger network as of January 15.
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