Tesla is expected to significantly expand its Supercharging network in Japan, a country dominated by CHAdeMO chargers.
According to Nikkei Asia, Tesla has approximately 695 Supercharging stalls across 138 locations in Japan and plans to reach more than 1,000 stalls across 180-200 locations in 2027. A 40% increase within two years sounds interesting.
The article explains that Tesla intends to expand its coverage beyond major metropolitan areas, as EV sales have doubled so far this year. The company sold roughly 10,090 EVs in January-November 2025, compared with its previous record of 5,920 in 2022.
The increase in sales in Japan (in contrast to the decline in some other markets) is one reason. Another is that the Tesla-developed NACS charging connector, standardized as SAE J3400, is gaining some traction in CHAdeMO-dominated Japan.
In 2024, we learned that Sony Honda Mobility adopted the NACS for the Afeela brand. It’s hard to imagine that Honda itself would stick with the SAE J1772 for AC charging and CHAdeMO for DC fast charging if its joint venture with Sony is switching to the NACS. In May 2025, Mazda announced its adoption of the NACS in Japan, starting in 2027, and most recently, Stellantis announced the switch to the NACS in Japan (and South Korea).
We assume that as more and more companies officially announce the switch to the NACS in the country, the days of CHAdeMO are numbered. And that despite there being some 12,618 CHAdeMO EV chargers in Japan (an order of magnitude more than Tesla Superchargers).
The CHAdeMO standard is somewhat cumbersome and, so far, limited in power levels (typically 50-100 kW at low voltage). Thus, the more convenient and flexible NACS connector, which can also handle AC charging scenarios, wins the competition between the two EV chargers in Japan.
An additional significant factor in the switch is that there are few markets where CHAdeMO is still widely used. For the Japanese EV industry, it’s not worth defending its solution if it still has to produce and export NACS- or CCS2-equipped EVs to other markets.
Nikkei Asia reports that third-party charger suppliers like ABB and PowerX plan to offer NACS charging equipment in Japan starting in 2026.
Overall, the switch is a significant win for Tesla Supercharging in Japan, which holds about a 20% share of the Japanese EV market (30% when excluding kei cars). Of the 55,380 EVs sold in the country during the first 11 months of this year, about 40% were kei cars (mini EVs) such as the Nissan Sakura and Honda N-ONE.
This isn’t as big a deal as the author insinuates. Basically it is a straight forward task to retrofit an existing charging station since the property permits are already in effect and the source of electricity is already present.