Toyota has joined a flood of automakers adopting Tesla’s charging port for the brand’s electric vehicles (EVs). The company announced today that “Toyota will incorporate the NACS [North American Charging Standard] ports into certain Toyota and Lexus BEVs starting in 2025.” The company will provide adapters that allow owners of other Toyota EV models to use Tesla chargers.
Industry Converging
When a technology is new, it’s not unusual for manufacturers to take time to converge on common approaches to building it. With electric cars, that has been a problem for drivers.
EVs for sale in 2023 come with one of three different charging ports. They’re not interchangeable. Each requires its own cord and plug.
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Most EV owners do the majority of their charging at home. But, on longer trips, they need to recharge from public chargers. Not every public charger works for every car.
Until recently, Tesla’s NACS standard socket was found only on Tesla cars. The company built a nationwide network of chargers to support Tesla owners.
Most other automakers use a different port called the Combined Charging System (CCS). The Nissan Leaf uses a third solution, CHAdeMo. A patchwork of charging networks offers CCS and CHAdeMo charging cords. Studies have found many of those networks unreliable.
That left EV owners hunting for a working charger matching their car.
Earlier this year, the problem grew annoying enough for the industry to converge on one solution.
First, Ford negotiated the right to use the Tesla charging plug for its EVs. GM quickly followed. SAE, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, agreed to administer the Tesla port as a standard for the industry.
One by one, nearly every automaker has signed on. This month alone, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, and now Toyota have joined.
That leaves the Volkswagen Group as the only major automaker holding out – and a persistent industry rumor says it is also negotiating with Tesla.
This Doesn’t Mean Tesla Runs Every Charger
The move means nearly every EV sold in America in 2025 will have Tesla’s NACS charging port and be able to plug into Tesla’s chargers.
It doesn’t, however, mean other charging networks will go away. They will likely adopt the NACS cord themselves. Electrify America, the country’s second-largest network operator, recently began adding the Tesla NACS cord to its chargers.
Other automakers will even compete with Tesla by establishing alternative charging networks. Mercedes has adopted the Tesla plug but plans to build a nationwide charging network. A coalition of seven automakers plans to build a rival system.
Most networks will likely offer both NACS and CCS plugs for many years, as they’ll want to be able to serve every EV on the road.
