Sony Honda Mobility’s AFEELA announces deal with Tesla to adopt NACS, and bring it to Japan

Sony and Honda mobility joint venture AFEELA announced a deal with Tesla to adopt NACS on its upcoming electric vehicles in North America and Japan.

Japanese electronics and automotive giants Sony and Honda partnered a few years ago to create AFEELA, a new electric vehicle brand.

You know that they are getting more serious about actually bringing their first EV to market as they are now announcing a deal with Tesla for their upcoming EVs to use the NACS connector and gain access to the Supercharger network:

Sony Honda Mobility Inc. (hereinafter referred to as SHM) has announced an agreement with Tesla Inc. to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) for its “AFEELA” EVs, which will start sales in 2025, first from United States and later in Japan. This also makes SHM the first company in Japan, to adopt the NACS standard, and have access to Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers.

Interestingly, NACS, which stands for ‘North American Charging Standard’, has become the standard EV connector in North America after Tesla opened its connector and Ford and GM got the ball rolling by adopting it., but it is also now getting adopted in Japan?

Japan doesn’t have a standard connector, and like in North America, Tesla has used its own connector in the market. CHAdeMO had its moment as a connector in Japan, and a few other markets, but it is getting phased out.

Now, it looks like Sony and Honda are trying to get the ball rolling for NACS in Japan.

Max de Zegher, Director of Charging at Tesla, commented on the announcement:

Tesla Superchargers represent the largest global network, with 60,000 Superchargers and growing. In Japan, 90% of 150kW+ chargers are Superchargers. True to Tesla’s mission, we also want to be helpful to companies going electric, and improve charging experiences for all EV drivers. That’s why we’re excited to see the North American Charging Standard (NACS) gaining traction in Japan, and we welcome Sony Honda Mobility as the first automaker to join the movement.

Yasuhide Mizuno, Representative Director, Chairman and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility Inc., added:

Sony Honda Mobility is committed to pursuing value creation centered around people for driving pleasure and an entertaining in-car experience. We prioritize customer convenience even in charging and have decided to adopt NACS. We sincerely thank Tesla for providing us the opportunity to adopt NACS as well as their latest and advanced technology-equipped V3 and V4 Superchargers for AFEELA.

AFEELA is expected to bring its first EVs to market next year. The details of the rollout are still not entirely clear, but the company has talked about long-term leases or subscription service-type approaches.