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Hyundai, Kia electric vehicles to use Tesla's NACS charging ports starting next year

Hyundai and Kia say that they're adopting North American Charging Standard ports for their electric vehicles in the U.S. and Canada, which will give the vehicles access to thousands of Tesla Superchargers across the two countries and Mexico. Tesla’s Superchargers are coveted by other automakers because Tesla has more direct current fast-charging plugs in the U.S. than any other network, and its stations are in prime locations along freeway travel corridors. Hyundai Motor North America said Thursday that new Hyundai electric vehicles in the U.S. will come with the NACS port starting in 2024's fourth quarter. It will begin in Canada in the first half of 2025. Hyundai's luxury brand, Genesis, will also start using the NACS ports. Kia said it plans to build the NACS port into new electric vehicles sold in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, also in the fourth quarter of next year. “Having this kind of sprawling access to chargers will no doubt boost customer satisfaction, elevate the EV ownership experience, and enable drivers to reach more destinations across the continent on electricity,” Seungkyu (Sean) Yoon, president & CEO, Kia North America and Kia America, said in a statement. Hyundai and Kia electric vehicles with NACS ports will be able to access more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico. This will double the size of the DC fast charging network available to Hyundai electric vehicle customers. The Tesla network will be able to support the charging speeds on HyundaiÂ’s advanced Electric-Global Modular Platform vehicles, including IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6 and the upcoming IONIQ 7. Tesla's electric vehicle plug has steadily moved closer to becoming the industry standard. In June SAE International, formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, said that it would set performance standards for TeslaÂ’s electric vehicle charging cords. The move by the key U.S. automotive industry organization came just weeks after Ford, General Motors and Rivian said they would join TeslaÂ’s large Supercharger network and adopt its NACS connector in new versions of their electric vehicles. Volvo Cars has also signed a deal with Tesla to join its charging network.

Kia previews next-gen infotainment systems at CES

While improving its quality, appeal and market share in recent years, Kia has made tremendous strides in transportation technology as well, and aims to further that at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with new telematics and infotainment systems.
Among the new tech Kia will be displaying at CES this year will be several future advancements to its UVO system. The User-Centered Driver (UCD) concept centers around a widescreen head-up display that projects vital data such as speed, navigation directions and traffic information across 18 inches above the instrument cluster, joined by a 12.3-inch TFT display that presents the information in a 3D view, wireless mobile charging and hand-gesture recognition.
The In-Vehicle Information (IVI) concept uses a multi-display system (based around a 20-inch multi-touch center-console display) that synchronizes with a tablet or smartphone to interface with the concierge service, social networking, parking assist and smart radio functions. The system also enables vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and HD wireless connectivity.

Next Kia Sedona minivan spied

After skipping the 2013 model year and returning for 2014, the Kia Sedona is getting a full redesign for 2015, which we see for the first time in these new spy shots. The new Sedona isn't going to look as much like the 2011 KV7 Concept as we had hoped, but we definitely see some key styling cues from the Kia concept minivan.
Even though it's covered in heavy camouflage, we can see that some of the KV7's cues on the 2015 Sedona include the vertical front marker lights, the horizontal taillights and the pinched beltline starting at the C-pillar. Kia's trademark Tiger Nose grille is present and accounted for, as is the telltale dip in the windshield.
All in all, the next-gen Sedona already looks to be a significant improvement over the current, generally boring model, which dates back to 2006 and has a striking resemblance to the Ford Freestar. There is no word yet as to what will power the 2015 Sedona, but our spy shooter said that this prototype was most likely powered by a 2.2-liter diesel.