A surprise detail announced at the 2026 Cadillac Optiq-V’s debut was that it would be the first GM EV with a native NACS charge port. Now, GM has confirmed that it won’t just be the V – the entire 2026 Cadillac Optiq lineup is getting an NACS port in its front driver-side fender. According to GM’s estimate, this will give owners “direct access to 21,500+ reliable and convenient fast charging options across North America.”
The North American Charging System (NACS) is the charge port used by Tesla EVs and Tesla Supercharger charging stations. It’s a smaller port than the Combined Charging System (CCS), which had been the industry standard for non-Tesla EVs until very recently. That means a smaller, lighter plug that’s easier to handle than a bulkier CCS plug, especially for people with small hands.
“Integrating the native NACS port into our vehicle architecture is an important step forward, reflecting our leadership in engineering and our commitment to providing our customers with more charging options,” said Optiq-V chief engineer John Cockburn at the time the high-performance variant was launched.
The whole 2026 Cadillac Optiq lineup will be able to plug right in at Tesla Supercharger and IONNA charging stations without requiring an adapter. However, if you want to plug in at a charging station that uses a CCS plug, like most Electrify America and ChargePoint stations, you will need an adapter.
A few other 2026-model-year GM EVs have already been announced, but the Optiq-V is the first one to have a native NACS port. The 2026 models of the Cadillac Lyriq-V, Cadillac Vistiq, Cadillac Escalade IQ and IQL, and GMC Hummer EV all still use a CCS port. GM is technically making good on its promise that GM EVs would start getting NACS charge ports in the 2026 model year, but it’s not happening all at once.
Hyundai and Kia are other mainstream car brands making the switch to a native NACS charge port. The updated 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 switched from CCS to NACS, and several all-new Hyundai and Kia EVs, like the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Kia EV4, are coming from the factory with NACS ports. We anticipate this trend to grow, and NACS will eventually be the standard for most or all North American EVs, regardless of brand.
Comments
Stupid to not standardize with rest of the world.
There is no single world wide standard.
Do you mean CCS-1? CCS-2? GB/T? CHAdeMO? NACS/J3400?
@Kåre Wenger
Europe standardized right away and so did China.
NA was the only major market that never did so.
While I am completely floored (But extremely happy about it) that Tesla open sourced their Charging Tech, I am even way more shocked that Legacy pounced on the opportunity to make it the standard here.
Great move by Tesla and amazing to finally see Legacy do the right thing for the consumers.
I would assume by 2028 all BEV’s will have the NACS ports.
ALL EV CADILLAC ,, NOT A BRITE DECISION ..