One of the last remaining holdouts has finally agreed to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). On Tuesday Mazda announced it has reached a deal with Tesla to add NACS to their future electric vehicles (EVs).
Last year Ford was the first automaker to sign on the dotted line, agreeing to adopt NACS for both their existing EV owners with Combined Charging System (CCS) through an adapter, and for their future EVs. Ford’s decision led to a wave of other automakers following suit, with all of the deals also giving them access to Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network in Canada and the United States.
As the months passed nearly all major automakers signed the same, or a very similar deal, yet there were still a few holdouts, one of which was Mazda. Their reluctance to sign was not that surprising considering they only have one EV, the MX-30, which is a compliance car that can only travel 160km (100 miles) on a full charge, and which was recently discontinued in the US, but continues to be offered for sale in Canada.
Despite this, the Japanese automaker is looking to the future, and today announced it has agreed to adopt NACS on their future EVs, starting in 2025. Unlike the other deals, Mazda makes no mention of providing an adapter to their existing EV owners, but their future EV owners will get access to more than 15,000 Superchargers in North America.
Mazda did not say which of their EVs will be the first to include a NACS charge port, but last year they announced plans to launch up to eight EVs before 2030.
