Stellantis becomes last automaker to adopt Tesla’s NACS, and goes global with it

After watching every other major automaker, Ford, GM, Mercedes, Hyundai-Kia, and even the famously cautious Toyota, and just last week Volkswagen, jump ship from the clunky CCS standard to the elegant, proven, and reliable NACS connector, Stellantis was the last major legacy holdout.

Well, the last domino has fallen, but the most interesting thing is that the NACS connector, which stands for North American Charging Standard, is going global – beyond North America.

Stellantis, the company that owns Jeep, Ram, Dodge, and a whole bunch of European badges like Fiat and Peugeot, finally announced today that it is adopting the North American Charging Standard (NACS), now formally known as SAE J3400 and commonly referred to as the Tesla connector.

With the company’s meager EV offering in North America, it’s not surprising to see them take their time and be the last mover.

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Stellantis states that the NACS rollout is going to start in 2026 with “the Jeep Wagoneer S and Dodge Charger Daytona BEV, followed by the 2026 Jeep Recon and other future compatible BEVs.”

However, the more important real news here is the bombshell buried in the press release: Stellantis is taking NACS global.

NACS will have to shave the ‘North American’ name

For months, the discussion around NACS has been primarily focused on the US and Canada. After all, the name is literally “North American Charging Standard,” but the truth is that Tesla also uses the same connector in other markets, such as Korea and Japan.

Now, Stellantis has confirmed that starting in 2027, its BEVs in Japan and South Korea will also feature the NACS port.

This is a significant development. In both Japan and South Korea, the charging landscape is messy. Japan is the home of CHAdeMO, and both nations utilize some flavor of CCS. By bringing NACS into these key Asian markets alongside Tesla, Stellantis is officially challenging the global charging status quo for the first time outside North America.

Electrek’s Take

It means that what started as a superior proprietary connector in California is now rapidly becoming the de facto global standard.

That’s one of the best things Tesla has ever done. That and the Supercharger network, which is, of course, related.

Now, it will be interesting to see if it goes any further.

Europe and China are going to be harder to change and also less needed, but it certainly doesn’t make sense to make a connector just for smaller markets like Korea and Japan.