Toyota has joined the growing list of automakers that have decided to switch to using Tesla’s charging standard. Beginning in 2025 all Toyota electric vehicles sold in the US will have charging ports designed to work with Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), rather than the Combined Charging System plugs automakers in the US now use.
Toyota’s announcement means that all of America’s best-selling automakers — Toyota ranks second only to General Motors in US sales — have agreed to switch to Tesla’s standard in the next few years.
[The news follows Toyota’s recent battery partnership and also news the company already is hiring to staff the battery plant it is building in the Triad.]
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The switch, which is becoming nearly industry-wide, is happening quickly. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk announced in November of last year that he was inviting other automakers and charging companies to adopt Tesla’s NACS. Six months later, Ford announced it would switch to NACS, followed just a few weeks later by GM, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Honda and others. Earlier this month, Hyundai and Kia, two related South Korean brands that, combined, are the second biggest seller of EVs in the US after Tesla, announced they would also switch to NACS.
Toyota is known as a leader in hybrid vehicles, offering more than 20 different hybrid models, but it is not a major player in EVs today. The Toyota BZ4X and Lexus RZ are the only two fully-electric models the company now sells in the US. But Toyota has said it plans to offer more electric models in the coming years.
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Various EV charging companies, such as Chargepoint, Electrify America and Beam, have also announced they will begin making chargers with NACS charging cables, along with CCS. For automakers like Ford, GM and Toyota, switching to NACS means easy access for their own customers to Tesla’s 12,000 fast-charging superchargers in the US.
But Stellantis, which makes Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, and Jeep vehicles has not said it will switch to NACS. The company doesn’t currently offer any fully-electric vehicles in the US, but it does offer plug-in hybrids such as the popular Jeep Wrangler 4Xe. Plug-in hybrids also use EV chargers to charge batteries that supplement a gasoline powered engine. The company does have plans to offer EVs in the near future including the Ram Rev electric pickup, the Fiat 500e small car and an electric Dodge muscle car.
Other automakers with smaller US market share, such as Volkswagen, Mazda and Subaru, have also not said they will switch to NACS in the US. Major charging companies have announced they will offer both types of cables to service electric vehicles with either type of charging port.
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