NACS stands for North American Charging Standard, the connector originally designed by Tesla for its own vehicles and Supercharger network, and now adopted as an open industry standard used by most major automakers. Whether your specific EV has it depends entirely on your brand and model year.
How NACS became an industry standard
Tesla used its own proprietary connector for years while most other automakers used CCS (Combined Charging System). In late 2022, Tesla published the connector’s design publicly, and in June 2023, SAE International formally ratified it as the J3400 standard, opening the door for any automaker to adopt it. Within months, most major automakers, including Ford, General Motors, Rivian, Hyundai, Kia, and others, announced plans to adopt NACS for current or future models.
Two ways an EV ends up with NACS access
The transition has happened brand by brand and model by model rather than all at once, resulting in two common situations:
- Native NACS port. Newer EVs increasingly ship with a NACS port built in from the factory, plugging directly into Superchargers and most other networks with no adapter needed.
- CCS1 port plus an adapter. Many EVs sold in recent years use a CCS1 port and rely on an automaker-issued or automaker-approved adapter to access NACS-based charging, including Superchargers.
Who’s still on CCS only
Volkswagen Group, including Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche, is the most notable holdout, continuing to ship CCS1-only vehicles in the US as of early 2026 without a committed NACS timeline. This doesn’t mean CCS is disappearing, federally funded charging stations are required to include CCS connectors, and most major networks now deploy chargers with both CCS and NACS cables side by side.
How to check your specific vehicle
Because this rolls out model year by model year, and sometimes trim by trim, the most reliable way to check is your owner’s manual, your automaker’s official adapter program page, or your car’s charging settings menu, rather than assuming based on brand alone. Software updates have also enabled Supercharger access on some vehicles that didn’t have it at launch, so it’s worth checking again if you assumed the answer was no a while ago.
💡 Tip: Curious what this actually means for Supercharger access specifically? See our post on whether you can use a Tesla Supercharger with a non-Tesla EV.