An American charging standard is crossing the ocean to Japan, as Sony Honda Mobility adopts the North American Charging Standard (NACS) for a new electric brand. Today, Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) announced an agreement with Tesla to adopt the NACS for its upcoming Afeela electric cars, which are scheduled for market launch in 2025.

The company promises that the first EV from the all-new Afeela brand will be available for pre-order in the United States in the first half of 2025, with sales starting later the same year. Customer deliveries are expected to start in Spring 2026. In the latter half of 2026, deliveries will begin also in Japan.

Non-Tesla EVs With NACS in Japan

One of the most interesting parts of the news is that Sony Honda Mobility’s Afeela will be the first brand, aside from Tesla, to adopt the NACS standard in Japan. SHM also revealed that the agreement with Tesla would enable access to Tesla Superchargers in Japan:

“…This also makes SHM the first company in Japan, to adopt the NACS standard, and have access to Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers.”

Recall that Tesla uses the same type of Superchargers in Japan as it does in North America. On the other hand, other manufacturers are using CHAdeMO, which originated in Japan.

The Afeela’s use of the NACS is a significant move. According to Tesla, roughly 90% of all DC fast chargers with a power output of 150 kilowatts or higher are Superchargers in Japan. In other words, most CHAdeMO chargers are relatively low power. Thus, by gaining access to Tesla Superchargers (and potentially other NACS chargers in the future), Afeela will gain a big competitive advantage regarding fast charging.

By the way, the NACS connector is used for both AC and DC charging, which simplifies charging, instead of needing to have two separate charging inlets—CHAdeMO for DC and J1772 for AC in Japan.

As SHM announced the switch, we wonder if Honda plans to adopt the NACS in its home market (the switch to NACS in North America was confirmed in September 2023). This might be the beginning of a larger move. We bet that the entire market might gradually switch to NACS, just like it happened in the US and Canada.

Japan is not the only market in a similar situation. Separately, NACS adoption is also expected in South Korea (which currently uses the CCS1/J1772). It might be just a matter of time.

Max de Zegher, Tesla’s Director of Charging, said:

“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.”

Yasuhide Mizuno, Representative Director, Chairman, and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility, Inc., said:

“Sony Honda Mobility is committed to pursuing value creation centered around people for driving pleasure and an entertaining in-car experience. We prioritize customer convenience even in charging and have decided to adopt NACS. 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”

An Afeela at a Tesla Supercharging station. (Source: Afeela)

Tesla appears to be very happy to see NACS adoption spread in Japan:

We believe a great charging experience is key to accelerating EV adoption. We’re excited that Sony Honda Mobility is adopting NACS in Japan! https://t.co/bG0MBoW9j0

— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) September 27, 2024

Afeela EVs

The Afeela brand promises to “revolutionize mobility that appeals to people’s emotions and behaviors”.

The company’s Prototype 2024 is a sedan equipped with a 91-kilowatt-hour battery, so we can assume it will come with a solid driving range. For the all-wheel drive powertrain, SHM selected two permanent magnet synchronous motors with a rated power output of 180 kilowatts each.

The Prototype 2024’s charging specs include 11-kW AC charging and 150-kW DC charging. However, we don’t know whether any of those numbers will actually arrive on the production model.

What is interesting is the vehicle’s interior, which has a wide screen for infotainment and yoke steering.

An interior shot of the Afeela Prototype 2024. (Source: Afeela)