Shopping for an EV in 2025? Expect Tesla Supercharger Adapters, Not Built-In Ports

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If you've heard the news that all EVs will have a Tesla charge port starting in 2025, you might be confused about what that means exactly.

Car release timelines overlap years, like how 2025 model year cars hit dealerships in 2024. So, it's been hard to pinpoint precisely when car companies will switch from Combined Charging System (CCS) ports to the Tesla-backed North American Charging Standard (NACS), or J3400.

Is it the 2025 model year, 2026 model year, or sometime in between? We asked the major automakers to get more clarity on their plans, and while not all responded, a key theme emerged among those that did: NACS-equipped EVs will arrive on 2026 model year cars, though not for all models and brands. So if you're shopping for an EV in 2025, don't expect a built-in NACS port.

Fully purging CCS ports could take years. That's not surprising, given the slow Supercharger rollout, but it's still a bit of a letdown. The only exceptions are two models that we know will have an NACS port for the 2025 model year: The Lucid Gravity SUV and the refreshed Hyundai Ioniq 5. Neither are available as of this writing.

For all other non-Tesla EVs, expect to use an adapter to plug into a Supercharger when you get access. That adapter may cost you as much as $225, as is the case for General Motors EVs. Rivian is giving them out for free.

Of course, all other charging stations are still available, and 80% of EV charging occurs at home, according to Ford. So, the lack of a NACS port may not be a deal-breaker. But if you can't stomach the idea of an adapter in any scenario, expect to wait a year or two.

GM seems to have the most firm plans, but there are still many details to work out. "The first NACS-equipped GM EVs will be available in model year 2026," a company spokesperson tells PCMag. However, the company hasn't "talked about specific models yet," so it's unclear if its entire EV lineup will be CCS-free by 2026. GM is one of the only brands to currently have Supercharger access, along with Ford and Rivian.

Ford and BMW did not respond to our inquiry. Rivian was unable to offer more details beyond what it's already disclosed: "We will begin integrating the NACS port into vehicles in 2025." The switchover may be tricky for Rivian in particular, as its vehicles do not have specific model years, like Teslas. They continuously update and improve as new features and battery packs debut in the online vehicle configurator.

Honda plans to start building new EVs with the NACS port in 2025, but only for brand-new models like the Saloon, which will hit dealers in 2026. There is no timeline for when the existing Honda Prologue and Acura ZDX will have native NACS ports, besides "a later model year," a company spokesperson says. They're on the adapter train indefinitely, and still awaiting Supercharger access in the first place.

Mercedes also says it plans to "equip all new electric vehicle models in the US with NACS charging ports starting in 2025," and that "more details will be shared later in 2024." The emphasis on "all new" may mean its existing EVs will have the CCS port indefinitely, but that remains to be seen.

The Volkswagen group, which includes Audi and Porsche, does not seem to have any plan at all, or at least not one it can disclose. All are awaiting Supercharger access via an adapter, so plans to build the NACS port into the vehicle directly may seem premature.

"VW Group has committed to [having] cars with the port in 2025, not the [Volkswagen] brand [specifically]. So that could be an Audi or a Porsche, for example," a Volkswagen representative tells PCMag. When we spoke to reps from Audi and Porsche, neither had concrete, public plans to build models with NACS at this time. "Expect news next year!" Porsche says.

For now, these brands seem to be taking it one step at a time. First, Supercharger access, then manufacturing vehicles with the new port. While logical, that means it may take longer than expected for NACS to supplant CCS as the new industry standard. It could partially depend on how fast Tesla gives them Supercharger access so they can move onto the next phase.