NACS took the industry by storm this year, after Tesla released the specifications for its charging connector in November 2022. It was called the North American Charging Standard, a somewhat absurd name at the time considering Tesla was the only company using it. However, since Tesla has a majority share of the US EV market, the company's argument was that most cars and most DC charging stations in America already use the Tesla connector, so it should be considered a de facto standard anyway.
After only a few months, the major automakers began announcing the transition to NACS connectors in the U.S. one by one. The first was Ford, followed by General Motors, Hyundai / Kia / Genesis and others. Volkswagen Group was one of the last to resist, but even that bastion has fallen.
The announcement includes VW, Audi, Porsche and the upcoming Scout brand. Luxury VW brands such as Bugatti, Bentley and Lamborghini were not part of today's announcement.
The NACS connector will come to vehicles starting in 2025, much like most other companies that have announced a similar move. Most other companies have also announced the availability of adapters in 2024, though VW says it is "exploring adapter solutions for existing vehicles to access the Tesla Supercharger network starting in 2025." Scout brand vehicles, which won’t be available until 2026 anyway, will all come with NACS inlets from the start.
There is now only one major car manufacturer that still has no plans to use the NACS connector - Stellantis.
Source: VW
