Alright, for our EV owners out there, picture this: Your weekend grocery shopping trip was going smoothly, reusable bags and shopping list at the ready, and plans to charge up at the station closest to the door set in motion. But upon pulling into the lot, said plan falls apart when you find every charger occupied, minus a few nearby Tesla Superchargers.

Often critiqued for a lack of infrastructure, the electric vehicle market is attempting to curve this reality of public charging by adopting the North American Charging Standard, the charging system used by Tesla and now open for other brands to use. Kia has announced their switch to NACS, and have now confirmed that new owners of their all-electric EV6 and EV9 SUVs will receive a free NACS adapter if they bought their vehicle on or after September 4, 2024.

Delivery of NACS adapters is expected in early 2025. If customers purchased a Kia EV6, EV9 and Niro EV before September 4, they will be able to purchase an adapter at a later date from an authorized Kia dealer. Pricing for the adapters has not been confirmed, but owners should be able to capitalize on the switch to NACS on January 15, 2025. Kia EV owners will have the ability to pay for charging through the Kia Access app after vehicle software upgrades. 

The Tesla Supercharger network is considered by many to be one of, if not the most robust electric vehicle charging grids in North America. Switching over to a unified system should help bolster the nation’s EV infrastructure.