Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis‘ electric vehicle models reportedly had a photoshoot session at Tesla Supercharger stalls on Friday, according to spy photos shared on social media platform Reddit.
This latest report hints that the South Korean automaker may soon announce plans to join the growing North American Charging Standard (NACS).
Spied photos
According to Reddit user Baayta’s post, some EV models from the Group were parked at a Tesla Supercharging station in San Clemente, California.
The models are spotted while “pretendingly charging” for some picture taking, considering they are currently incompatible with the Tesla NACS connector.
Some of the models include the award-winning Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6, Genesis GV60, and the upcoming Kia EV9.
Implications
The South Korean automaker seems to be preparing the photos it would indicate for its upcoming press release for the official announcement of a potential NACS connector shift.
If this is not the case, it would be challenging to determine the reason behind the models’ sudden appearance at the Tesla Supercharger site in California, which has seldom used V2 supercharging stalls.
Therefore, Hyundai will highly likely follow the other established brands’ footsteps toward NACS connector integration for its next-gen EVs.
In return, Hyundai customers may soon access Tesla’s robust and reliable Supercharging network across North America.
For context, Tesla’s NACS deal includes immediate access to the Tesla Superchargers as early as 2024 through an adapter. By 2025, it would involve the integration of NACS ports and connectors to eliminate the need for adapters.
Some of the early automotive brands to support the charging standard are as follows:
- Ford
- General Motors
- Rivian
- Volvo Cars
- Polestar
- Mercedes-Benz
- Nissan
- Fisker
- Honda (with Acura)
- Jaguar
Downside
InsideEVs noted that the new E-GMP-based Hyundai Motor Group electric models support a maximum battery voltage of approximately 600-800 volts.
However, the current capacity of Tesla Superchargers can only handle a maximum output of about 500 volts.
That said, Hyundai EVs riding on the E-GMP platform might not fully take advantage of its fast charging capabilities.
Nonetheless, Tesla aims to boost the NACS charging connector’s capacity to a maximum of 1,000 volts and 1 megawatt of charging power for its second configuration.
See Also:
- Jaguar secures access to Tesla Supercharger network through NACS adoption
- Honda to adopt Tesla NACS for its own and Acura brand EVs in 2025
- Texas to mandate Tesla NACS in EV charging stations
- Fisker to adopt Tesla NACS connector by 2025
- Rivian Chief talks about its NACS partnership with Tesla
All that said, we cannot say for sure if Hyundai will actually adopt Tesla NACS. However, this latest report highly suggests that the South Korean automaker may be the latest Tesla rival to support its charging standard. It will also be interesting to know if Hyundai will also have the same agreement with Tesla as all the other brands that already confirmed plans to adopt NACS.
