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Much like Apple removed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, Tesla’s new EV’s switch to charging ports has plunged the world into dongle hell.
With the new and returning electric cars of the 2026 model year officially on the road, a new generation of EVs is finally here. These EVs such as the Lucid Gravity, Rivian R1S and R1T and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 are all equipped with Tesla’s charging connector that allows a seamless connection to its Supercharger network.
But we can’t avoid adapters.
Tesla’s transition to NACS, or the North American Charging Standard, means that every plug at public charging stations like Chargepoint, Electrify America, EVigo and others outside the Supercharger network now requires an adapter. Even home chargers will need extra plastic to work on new EVs. with such as “the courage” Apple calls with the transition from wired headphones to Bluetooth connectivity, the next few years will require patience—because it’s going to get messy.
Until now, only Tesla EVs (Models S, 3, X and Y and Cybertruck) required an adapter to operate at each charging station outside of the Supercharger network, but now a growing portion of the 4 million EVs in America (as of 2024) are barreling into dongle overload.
A Hyundai spokesperson confirmed, “The vehicle comes with two adapters,” like Lucid’s new Gravity SUV for AC and DC charging. Rivian’s 2026 models will include a J1772 adapter for Level 2 charging for its Dual, Tri and Quad vehicles, and its Quad launch version will have a CCS Combo 1 DC Fast Adapter. In a word: messy.
General Motors, the parent company of Cadillac, has had a summer Blog post Just said of the upcoming adapter situation, “It creates a bit of complexity: There will be both types of cars on the road, as well as both types of chargers in public and private settings.” The 2026 Cadillac Optiq will be the first GM EV to convert to NACS.
Although Tesla’s Supercharger network is rich and growing (there are 73,817 individual connectors at 7,753 stations, which is 16% more than last year), home chargers and old network plugs will not be compatible with the new EVs. An Electrify America spokesperson wrote in an email, “Electrify America is committed to future support. [NACS] connector.” He went on to explain that the company is testing NACS charging at stations in Florida and Connecticut “to gain insight into customer experience and hardware data.”
Chargepoint has taken more aggressive steps to survive dongle hell. Rob Newton, the network’s senior director of marketing, acknowledged on a call that “the experience has been really complicated” in the past when different charging systems were involved. Chargepoint never supplied the adapter.
Instead of relying on automakers or individual EV owners to keep up with the latest dongles, ChargePoint is changing the source. enter Omni Port. Launched this summer, the new ChargePoint stations will have adapters built into the station and allow drivers to select what type of EV they’re charging. “You want to be able to pull up to a station and be confident it’s working,” Newton said.
Newer stations will come standard with Omni ports, but older stations will need to retrofit the old connectors with a conversion kit from the company. Newton calls it “future-proofing,” but it’s more about making sure new EV owners can continue using non-Tesla charging stations (and paying for kilowatt-hours).
Almost every automaker with an electrified model has announced in the past few years that it’s developing one Inevitable migration In the Tesla charging system. And now it’s happening — dongle and all.
