Electric

Future Toyota, Lexus EVs to Add Tesla’s NACS Connector

by Guillaume Rivard
Photo: Toyota

The dominos keep falling. Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus are adding their names to the long list of car companies that have reached a deal with Tesla to gain access to more than 12,000 Superchargers in Canada and the U.S.

Customers owning or leasing a Toyota or Lexus EV equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS) will be offered an adapter to plug into Superchargers starting in 2025.

As a result, they will have access to an extensive charging network comprising over 84,000 charging ports in North America, including level 2 and DC fast chargers, the Japanese automaker points out.

Photo: Tesla

Also beginning in 2025, Tesla-developed North American Charging Standard (NACS) ports will be incorporated into certain Toyota and Lexus EVs. That includes the new three-row electric SUV that Toyota will build in Kentucky as a future Kia EV9 rival.

We suppose Toyota is working on a higher-capacity electric architecture in order to really take advantage of those fast-charging Superchargers. The current Toyota bZ4X and Lexus RZ can charge at no more than 150 kW (FWD models) or 100 kW (AWD models) in the best-case scenario. In reality, their charging speeds are much slower, as our various tests confirm.

Who will be next? Remember, Ford, GM, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Infiniti, Honda, Acura, Hyundai, Genesis, Kia, BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce have all made similar announcements in the past few months, looking to capitalize on Tesla’s renowned charging technology, which leads the industry in terms of dependability and user satisfaction according to a recent J.D. Power study.

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