Kia EVs will get Tesla Supercharger access in March

Kia’s electric vehicles will get Tesla Supercharger access “sometime in March 2025,” the company announced in a statement. Kia EVs, including the EV6 and EV9, were scheduled to get Supercharger access in January using NACS to CCS1 adapters, but that has been delayed.

Kia’s sister company, Hyundai, is beginning to ship new 2025 model year Ioniq 5 EVs with native NACS ports that match the ones on Teslas, and its models with older CCS1 ports can already plug into Supercharger stations using an adapter. However, Kia dealerships are now receiving NACS adapters meant to be free to EV6 and EV9 owners who purchased the new vehicles on or after September 4th, 2024. Kia also says owners can buy the adapter from dealers.

On YouTube, State of Charge noted that the adapters Kia is sending to its owners appear to be rated for 1000 volts but only 350 amps, which is lower than adapters used by other manufacturers that are usually 500 amps. It should be fine for use with the Kia vehicles it’s designed for, but it could run into compatibility issues if people try to use it with other manufacturer’s cars.

Kia says the adapters are “engineered to meet Tesla’s charging specifications and have been developed and tested for use with Kia EV vehicles,” and “Use of other adapters may result in repairs that are not covered by Kia’s warranty.”

Some Kia owners say they have already successfully Supercharged their EVs using third-party NACS adapters by tricking the Tesla app into thinking they are charging a Hyundai (both the EV6 and Ioniq 5 share the same E-GMP EV platform). However, Tesla may have now closed that loophole.