In June, Subaru fans speculated on a forum that Elon Musk would soon target companies like Toyota and Subaru to join the Tesla charging standard. The North American Charging Standard (NACS) has been successfully attracting Tesla’s rivals like Ford, GM, BMW, and others to provide conversion packages to existing electric vehicles (EVs) and to make it the standard going forward.
Subaru announced on Nov. 1 that it would be joining the NACS in 2025. The fan forum’s theory has proven to be correct. The company links up with top Japanese manufacturers Toyota and Nissan in this venture. Subaru customers will soon have access to the North American network of Tesla Superchargers.
Charging adapter equipment will be sent to Subaru owners with cars using the combined charging system (CCS). The CCS system is common amongst non-Tesla cars, but it was incompatible with the Supercharger plug-in until recently.
Photo Courtesy Subaru
Subaru wants to have 50% of all vehicle sales be battery EVs by 2030. However, the company has only offered one, the Solterra. This car is the product of a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota. It’s built with the same platform as the Toyota bZ4X. Regarding original EVs, Subaru has been slower than most in the electric races.
The future is looking brighter, though. Subaru also announced it has three cars in the works. Company president Atsushi Osaki told reporters these cars are expected to arrive in 2026.
He hopes the company will be able to sell 200,000 EVs by then, too. In September 2023, the company sold more than 5,700 units as electric adoption continues globally.
Subaru joins a lengthy list of American, European, and Asian automakers who have signed on to the NACS. Nissan, Polestar, Volvo, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover, Rivian, Mercedes, and others are all switching. Ideally, this will create a more centralized charging standard and speed up EV adoption.
Photo Courtesy Ewan Streit
Tesla Superchargers are considered some of the best charging stations in the world, and having unlimited access to them is a massive step in the right direction. For these reasons, the U.S. government mandated Tesla make their chargers universal by July 1, 2024.
At the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo at the end of October, Subaru unveiled some new concept models, including a potential electric sports car. The Air Mobility and Sport Mobility models are expected to be the flagship vehicles of the brand’s next-gen vehicles. There will also be more Japan-specific models coming, like the Levorg Layback. A novel Solterra concept was also revealed.
As more brands sign on to NACS, the faster people buy non-Tesla EVs, like Subaru’s upcoming lineup. Tesla models are still the top-selling EV in the U.S., but with more automakers accessing the electric car giant’s charging network, there will be more sales.
