The Latest EVs Include Tesla Supercharger Ports, and That Means Dongles Galore

Much like when Apple removed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, the newest EVs’ switch to Tesla’s charging ports has plunged the world into dongle hell.

With 2026 models of new and returning electric vehicles officially out on the streets, a new generation of EVs is finally here. These EVs such as the Lucid Gravity, Rivian R1S and R1T and Hyundai Ioniq 5 are all natively built with Tesla’s charging connector that allows a seamless connection to its Supercharger network.

But we can’t escape adapters.

The transition to Tesla’s NACS, or North American Charging Standard, now means that every plug at public charging stations like those from ChargePoint, Electrify America, EVgo and others outside the Supercharger network now require an adapter. Even home chargers will need an extra piece of plastic to work on new EVs. Like with the “courage†Apple summoned with its transition to Bluetooth connection from wired headphones, the next few years will require endurance—because it’s getting messy.

Until now, only Tesla EVs (the Model S, 3, X and Y and Cybertruck) needed an adapter to work at every charging station outside 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 vehicles come with two adapters,†as will 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 Editions will have a CCS Combo 1 DC fast adapter. In a word: messy.

General Motors, Cadillac’s parent company, put out a summer blog post saying exactly that about the upcoming adapter situation, “That creates a little complication: there will be cars on the road with both standards, as well as chargers of both varieties in public and private settings.†The 2026 Cadillac Optiq will be the first GM EV to transition to NACS.

While Tesla’s Supercharger network is thriving and growing (7,753 stations housing 73,817 individual connectors, up 16% from last year), home chargers and older network plugs won’t be compatible with the newest EVs. An Electrify America spokesperson wrote in an email, “Electrify America remains committed to supporting the future of the [NACS] connector.†She went on to explain that the company is testing NACS charging at stations in Florida and Connecticut “to gain insights into the customer experience and data on the hardware.â€

ChargePoint has taken more aggressive steps to escape dongle hell. Rob Newton, the network’s senior director of marketing, acknowledged in a call that in the past the “experience has been really clunky†when different charging systems are involved. ChargePoint has never provided adapters.

Instead of relying on carmakers or individual EV owners to keep up with the latest dongles, ChargePoint is changing the source. Enter the Omni Port. Introduced this summer, the newest ChargePoint stations will have the adapter built into the station itself and drivers can select what type of EV they are charging. “You want to be able to pull up to a station and have confidence it works,†Newton said.

New stations will come standard with an Omni Port, but older stations need to retrofit old connectors with a conversion kit from the company. Newton called it “future-proofing,†but it’s more about ensuring new EV owners can continue to use (and pay for kilowatt-hours from) non-Tesla charging stations.

Nearly every automaker with an electrified model announced in the past few years that it was making the inevitable shift to the Tesla charging system. And now it’s happening — dongles and all.