- Kia unveiled the facelifted 2025 model of its EV6 crossover on Thursday.
- The big update: The EV6 now comes equipped with a Tesla-style NACS charging port from the factory.
- Plus, Kia moved the charging port to the left side of the vehicle, which should help drivers more easily access Tesla Superchargers starting next year.
Kia will move the charging port on the 2025 EV6 crossover to the left side of the vehicle from the right side, the brand announced on Thursday. If you ask the Tesla owners who will soon share their beloved Supercharger stations with Kia drivers and many others, that's the right side to have it on.
That update comes as part of a wider refresh to the EV6 that broke cover on Thursday. The 2025 model gets a new mug, more range and, perhaps most importantly, a Tesla-style charging port built right in. Thanks to an integrated North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, the EV6 will soon be able to charge up at thousands of Tesla Superchargers without using a dongle of any kind. That access opens up in January.
But simply working with Tesla to grant Supercharger access (they used to be reserved for Tesla owners only, but that's gradually changing) doesn't guarantee the charging process at those locations will easy or hiccup-free. Since Tesla began letting outsiders use its stations, it's become clear that the location of a car's charging port can make or break the charging experience—both for the car's owner and the station's other patrons.
Supercharger stalls are designed with short cords and for Teslas only, and all Teslas have their charging port at the back left of the vehicle. So when a non-Tesla shows up with its port in the "wrong" place, the owner can't simply back into the appropriate spot like a Model Y or Model 3 could. They may have to straddle two parking spaces or park horizontally across them just to get the cord to reach.
Understandably, that's been pissing off Tesla owners left and right. It's awkward for the person causing the nuisance too.
Enter Kia. The brand not only gave the 2025 EV6 a NACS port—it also relocated the port the left rear fender to mimic Tesla's setup. (The high-performance EV6 GT won't get the same update, however.) Kia didn't explicitly mention the parking problem in its press release, only saying that the new port and location serve to "make charging more convenient."
But everybody knows this is an issue, including Tesla. On its website, it recommends that non-Tesla owners "avoid parking diagonally to reach the cable and try to obstruct as few charge posts as possible," and shows how they should do so in a handy illustration.
"Additionally, we encourage all vehicle manufacturers to standardize charge port locations to the rear driver side or front passenger side," Tesla adds.
This may only be a temporary bug of the great NACS transition, though. Gas stations have no problem dealing with cars that have their gas caps on either side of the vehicle. We're starting to see EV charging stations with that kind of pull-through design coming online too. And Tesla says its new V4 charging cabinets will better accommodate other EVs.
Contact the author: tim.levin@insideevs.com
