Sony’s electric car to use Tesla’s NACS
According to SHM, this also makes it the first company in Japan to introduce the NACS standard and allow access to the Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers. Sony Honda Mobility is the electric car joint venture between the two Japanese groups, and the vehicles themselves will be launched under the Afeela brand.
That means the electric saloon from Afeela will launch on the market with NACS as the charging standard right from the start – at least in North America. According to SHM, the books for pre-orders of the first Afeela model should open in the US in the first half of 2025, with sales starting later that year. However, deliveries in the US are not expected until spring 2026. In Japan, the saloon should launch in the second half of 2026.
“Sony Honda Mobility is committed to pursuing value creation centred around people for driving pleasure and an entertaining in-car experience. We prioritise customer convenience even in charging and have decided to adopt NACS,” said Yasuhide Mizuno, Representative Director, Chairman and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility. “We sincerely thank Tesla for providing us the opportunity to adopt NACS as well as their latest and advanced technology-equipped V3 and V4 Superchargers for Afeela.”
Max de Zegher, Director of Charging at Tesla, added: “Tesla Superchargers represent the largest global network, with 60,000 Superchargers and growing. In Japan, 90% of 150kW+ chargers are Superchargers. True to Tesla’s mission, we also want to be helpful to companies going electric, and improve charging experiences for all EV drivers. That’s why we’re excited to see the North American Charging Standard (NACS) gaining traction in Japan, and we welcome Sony Honda Mobility as the first automaker to join the movement.”
The NACS – also elevated to a standardised charging system as SAE J3400 at the end of 2023 – was designed by Tesla as a proprietary charging system for its electric cars in North America. After Tesla released the design of its Supercharger connector in November 2022, it took a few months for other car manufacturers to use it. Due to the very high penetration of Superchargers in North America, it was attractive for many car manufacturers to switch to the NACS. Since then, numerous manufacturers have announced the switch, and the first third-party brands can already use the US Superchargers – even if it is still a waiting game.
Incidentally, Afeela will be the first car manufacturer to sell NACS vehicles in Japan, but it is by no means the first Japanese manufacturer with NACS: Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Subaru, and Mazda have already announced the switch – but only for models sold in North America.
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