EV CHARGING

Mazda Will Use Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS)

February 3, 2024

Mazda has yet to release a fully-electric vehicle, despite announcing the switch to NACS.
The automaker chose to switch to follow its core values of being “Human Centric” and delivering the “Joy of Driving.”
Stellantis remains the only automaker left that hasn’t made the switch to NACS and J3400.

Despite not having any electric vehicles for sale in North America, Mazda has joined the rest of the major automakers in adopting the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Beginning in 2025, the automaker will use the Tesla charging port in its future battery electric vehicles.

Mazda made the switch to the NACS system to meet its core values of building “Human Centric” vehicles that deliver the “Joy of Driving” in daily lives. When the automaker adds battery-electric vehicles to the lineup, Mazda EV drivers will have access to over 15,000 Tesla Superchargers as well as the rest of the EV charging stations around the country.

While other automakers like Ford, Hyundai, and Kia have announced they will provide adaptors for vehicles made before 2025, Mazda has not yet remarked on whether it will do the same. Mazda currently offers the Mazda CX-90 PHEV, but this plug-in hybrid vehicle relies on Level 1 and Level 2 charging with the J1772 plug. It will not need an adaptor, like pre-2025 fully-electric vehicles will.

To meet the needs of the automakers switching to the NACS charging system, the SAE designed a new charging system – J3400. Engineers needed only six months to design and build the new charging system to standardize EV charging. With Mazda committing to shift away from CCS, the only automaker left to make the switch is Stellantis. Stellantis has a new EV, the Charger EV, arriving around the time of the big switch.