You are Welcome, Tesla Homeowners. Kia Simply Moved Its Charging Port

• Kia unveiled the facelifted 2025 mannequin of its EV6 crossover on Thursday. 
• The large replace: The EV6 now comes geared up with a Tesla-style NACS charging port from the manufacturing facility. 
• Plus, Kia moved the charging port to the left facet of the automobile, which ought to assist drivers extra simply entry Tesla Superchargers beginning subsequent yr. 

Kia will transfer the charging port on the 2025 EV6 crossover to the left facet of the automobile from the best facet, the model introduced on Thursday. When you ask the Tesla homeowners who will quickly share their beloved Supercharger stations with Kia drivers and lots of others, that is the best facet to have it on. 

That replace comes as a part of a wider refresh to the EV6 that broke cowl on Thursday. The 2025 mannequin will get a brand new mug, extra vary and, maybe most significantly, a Tesla-style charging port constructed proper in. Because of an built-in North American Charging Normal (NACS) port, the EV6 will quickly be capable to cost up at 1000’s of Tesla Superchargers with out utilizing a dongle of any sort. That entry opens up in January. 

However merely working with Tesla to grant Supercharger entry (they was once reserved for Tesla homeowners solely, however that is progressively altering) would not assure the charging course of at these places will straightforward or hiccup-free. Since Tesla started letting outsiders use its stations, it is change into clear that the situation of a automotive’s charging port could make or break the charging expertise—each for the automotive’s proprietor and the station’s different patrons. 

Supercharger stalls are designed with quick cords and for Teslas solely, and all Teslas have their charging port on the the again left of the automobile. So when a non-Tesla reveals up with its port within the “unsuitable” place, the proprietor cannot merely again into the suitable spot like a Mannequin Y or Mannequin 3 may. They could need to straddle two parking areas or park horizontally throughout them simply to get the wire to succeed in.

Understandably, that is been pissing off Tesla homeowners left and proper. It is awkward for the individual inflicting the nuisance too. 

Photograph by: InsideEVs

Enter Kia. The model not solely gave the 2025 EV6 a NACS port—it additionally relocated the port the left rear fender to imitate Tesla’s setup. (The high-performance EV6 GT will not get the identical replace, nonetheless.) Kia did not explicitly point out the parking drawback in its press launch, solely saying that the brand new port and site serve to “make charging extra handy.” 

However all people is aware of this is a matter, together with Tesla. On its web site, it recommends that non-Tesla homeowners “keep away from parking diagonally to succeed in the cable and attempt to hinder as few cost posts as attainable,” and reveals how they need to achieve this in a helpful illustration. 

“Moreover, we encourage all automobile producers to standardize cost port places to the rear driver facet or entrance passenger facet,” Tesla provides. 

This will solely be a short lived bug of the good NACS transition, although. Fuel stations haven’t any drawback coping with vehicles which have their fuel caps on both facet of the automobile. We’re beginning to see EV charging stations with that form of pull-through design coming on-line too. And Tesla says its new V4 charging cupboards will higher accommodate different EVs.

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