As I maneuvered the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 into the final location of a Palm Springs Tesla Supercharging station, I thought, “Lucky me.”
The juice wasn’t really necessary for the EV. It was time to see how successfully Hyundai would integrate with the Tesla Supercharging network, however, since this updated small all-electric SUV has a socket for Tesla’s North American Charging Standard.
For instance, I parked in reverse, unlocked the charging port on the passenger-rear quarter panel, and reached for the charging wire, which was tucked away in the cabinet on the driver’s side of the vehicle.
We have a problem, Hyundai. It failed to reach.
I could either use the in-car navigation to locate a CCS-equipped charging station and use the included adaptor, or I could wait for another Tesla to move out of the way and use that charging connection, effectively taking up two slots.
Since I had enough battery, I decided to continue my day, but others might not be as fortunate.
Except for Tesla, which created its own port and charging station known as the North American Charging Standard, or NACS, all automakers in North America used the Combined Charging System, or CCS.
After Ford negotiated an agreement to provide its EV owners with access to over 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in the United States and Canada, automakers started to transition to NACS in May 2023. After GM did the same, almost all of the automakers made similar agreements with Tesla in less than six months.
Although most of these automakers, including Hyundai and Kia, agreed to incorporate the NACS charging technology into their upcoming EVs, access would initially be achieved with a Tesla adapter.
