Two more car companies are joining the ranks of legacy automakers who will add Tesla's electric vehicle charging technology to their EVs. Honda and Acura have just announced that they will add North American Charging Standard ports to their cars.
The CEO of Honda and Acura (Honda's luxury brand) confirmed during an interview with Autoblog that they would begin adding NACS ports to their future EV models. "It is quite important," American Honda Motor Co. President and CEO Noriya Kaihara said. "We also have to push NACS, as well. It is clear."
Although NACS started as Tesla's proprietary charging system, competing with the Combined Charging System used by every other North American EV, Tesla has since convinced a growing number of companies to switch over and make their EVs compatible with NACS instead of CCS. (Slightly confusingly, in Europe, Tesla uses CCS.)
Those companies include Ford, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, and now Honda. Tesla and NACS also just won a major battle, as Texas approved plans to ensure that NACS chargers are included at all of the state's federally funded EV charging stations.
As far as when Honda and Acura will begin integrating NACS ports into their vehicles, the companies are at the mercy of General Motors, as both of their upcoming EVs — the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX — will rely on GM's Ultium battery hardware. Therefore, whenever GM gets around to including NACS tech, Honda will as well. The transition is expected to take place in 2025 or 2026.
American Honda's Vice President of Sustainability and Business Development Jay Joseph provided some context to Autoblog about what prompted the company to make the switch. "If you look at what's so great about the Tesla Supercharger network, it's the maintenance," he said. "They stay on top of it, they've got someone onsite monitoring the equipment, they're monitoring it electronically and remotely, and they fix it — fast. That's probably the most important thing."
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