Today was supposed to be the day that Kia owners gain access to Tesla’s Supercharger network, but on Monday the brand announced that access would be delayed until spring. However, some owners have figured out a way to charge on Superchargers already.
It’s been a busy time for the North American EV industry’s transition to NACS, the charging standard originally advanced by Tesla and now standardized by SAE.
But the week was supposed to be even busier, with Kia having previously planned to roll out Supercharger access today, January 15th, according to an announcement the company made back in September. Unfortunately there was a delay, and Kia owners will have to wait another several weeks for official support.
But the wait might not be that long for all owners, if you’re willing to do something unsanctioned to get a charge.
Kia and Hyundai EVs are built on the same E-GMP platform, which is renowned for its DC charging prowess. And these brands were the first non-Tesla brands to ship cars with a native NACS port, instead of having to use an adapter.
Currently, we’ve heard plenty of reports that Hyundai EVs are charging on Tesla’s network no problem, despite that brand only just being added to Tesla’s “coming soon” page this week. And this apparently applies to Kia as well in certain instances, with a little trickery.
One Kia EV6 owner, who goes by Technically Jeff on Youtube, posted a video of himself charging his EV6 on a Tesla Supercharger today, the day that Kia was originally supposed to get access.
He doesn’t have a 2025 EV6 with native NACS port, and instead used a third party adapter from A2Z. This is not the official Kia-sanctioned adapter, as the official Kia adapter is not out yet. Manufacturers typically recommend that you use an official adapter, instead of a third party one.
In order to get the Supercharger to recognize his vehicle, he opened the Tesla app and listed his vehicle as an Ioniq 5, rather than an EV6. We’ve heard of other owners trying the same with Honda Prologues, listing them as Chevy Blazers (again, due to the car’s shared underpinnings) and being able to charge.
He preconditioned the battery by tricking his car into thinking he was going to another nearby CCS DC charger, so the battery was only partially conditioned and thus early fast charging speed wasn’t optimal.
Further, because he charged at a Tesla V3 cabinet, which isn’t capable of 800V, the EV6’s 800V charging system was limited. So he ended up peaking at around 100kW, which is roughly half of the best performance these cars can handle. Until Tesla rolls out more V4 cabinets, 800V vehicles can expect slower charging performance on Superchargers, even after gaining access.
The change allowing this seems to have been recent as well. Other owners have tried recently to charge Kias using the same method with no luck. But now we’re seeing this report that it is possible today, if you have a third-party adapter and don’t mind telling a little lie to Tesla.
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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss the EV/Solar killing bill moving forward, Elon lying about Tesla’s demand, cheaper EVs coming, and more.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
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Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET)
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This is what the future of travel will look like. Circle K opened its first location exclusively for EV charging in Europe. The site features ten ultra-fast EV chargers and a convenience store while you wait.
Circle K opens first EV charging-only site in Europe
The new EV charging hub is located in Gårda, near Gothenburg, Sweden. It’s Circle K’s largest EV charging-only location with ten 400 kW chargers that can recharge from 0 to 80% in around 15 minutes.
Kempower supplied two 600 kW Power Units and ten Single Satellite chargers that can deliver up to 400 kW of power.
With an improved version of Kempower’s Autocharge feature, the system can store your information so that the next time you visit, all you have to do is plug in. The system will recognize your vehicle and bill you automatically.
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While you wait, there’s a 1,076 ft² (100 m²) convenience store that offers “a complete retail experience,” offering food, drinks, Wi-Fi, and plenty of seating.
The site expects heavy traffic on Sweden’s E6, with over 10,000 vehicles travelling on the motorway daily.
Circle K opens its first EV charging-only site in Europe (Source: Kempower)
The new EV charging-only site comes after Circle K opened its largest EV charging hub in Sweden. Located just southwest of Stockholm, the flagship location has 26 fast chargers that can be used with light and heavy-duty vehicles.
Circle K now has over 3,000 branded chargers across Europe and will continue adding to its network as demand for EV charging rises.
Circle K’s largest electric vehicle charging hub in Sweden (Source: Circle K)
With around 17,000 locations globally, the company said it’s “uniquely positioned” to support the transition to electric vehicles.
Will we see Circle K open a location exclusively for EVs in the US? As more electric cars hit the road, more charging options will be needed. A few convenience stores, including 7-Eleven, are already rolling out fast chargers. Through 7Charge, 7-Eleven aims to build “one of the largest and most compatible” EV fast charging networks of any retailer in North America.
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US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 23, 2025.
Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images
President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders on Friday to overhaul the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and speed the deployment of new nuclear power reactors in the U.S.
The NRC is a 50-year-old, independent agency that regulates the nation’s fleet of nuclear reactors. Trump’s orders call for a “total and complete reform” of the agency, a senior White House official told reporters in a briefing. Under the new rules, the commission will be forced to decide on nuclear reactor licenses within 18 months.
Trump said Friday the orders focus on small, advanced reactors that are viewed by many in the industry as the future. But the president also said his administration supports building large plants.
“We’re also talking about the big plants — the very, very big, the biggest,” Trump said. “We’re going to be doing them also.”
Nuclear executives joined Trump for the signing ceremony, including Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez. Constellation is the largest operator of nuclear plants in the U.S. Nuclear stocks rallied Friday in response to the president’s actions.
NRC overhaul
When asked whether NRC reform will result in staff reductions, the White House official said “there will be turnover and changes in roles.”
“Total reduction in staff is undetermined at this point, but the executive orders do call for a substantial reorganization” of the agency, the official said. The orders, however, will not remove or replace any of the five commissioners who lead the body, according to the White House.
Any reduction in staff at the NRC would come at time when the commission faces a heavy workload. The agency is currently reviewing whether two mothballed nuclear plants, Palisades in Michigan and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, should restart operations, a historic and unprecedented process.
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Joseph Dominguez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Constellation, speaks in the Oval Office on the day Trump is expected to sign executive orders, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 23, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
Dominguez said the nuclear industry’s biggest problem has been regulatory delay. Constellation is aiming to bring the Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island back online in 2028 after it closed for economic reasons. A separate reactor, Unit 2, was the site of a partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979.
“We’re wasting too much time on permitting and we’re answering silly questions, not the important ones,” the Constellation CEO said.
Trump’s orders also create a regulatory framework for the Departments of Energy and Defense to build nuclear reactors on federal land, the administration official said.
“This allows for safe and reliable nuclear energy to power and operate critical defense facilities and AI data centers,” the official told reporters. The NRC will not have a direct role, as the departments will use separate authorities under their control to authorize reactor construction for national security purposes, the official said.
Boost uranium mining
The president’s orders also aim to jump start the mining of uranium in the U.S. and expand domestic uranium enrichment capacity, the official said. Trump’s actions also aim to speed up reactor testing at the Department of Energy’s national laboratories.
Investment in nuclear power is growing in the U.S. after a long period of financial turmoil for the industry, including the shutdown of a dozen reactors in recent years as the industry struggled to compete against cheap and abundant natural gas.
The cooling towers of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, Oct. 30, 2024.
Danielle DeVries | CNBC
Building new nuclear plants in the U.S. is notoriously slow and expensive. The two new reactors that recently came online at Plant Vogtle near Augusta, Georgia took seven years longer-than-planned to build, and came in $18 billion over budget.
But the computer technology industry is now driving the revival in nuclear as it races to meet growing electricity demand from data centers used to drive artificial intelligence. Three Mile Island is expected to return to service with financial support from Microsoft, for example, and Alphabet and Amazon are investing in small, advanced reactors.