Autobayng News Team
THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!
I was bewildered when I heard the noise from inside the 2025 Kia EV6 I was testing. My car—the same vehicle, a model-year newer—doesn’t sound like that. Frankly, no car should sound like that. Was something bouncing around the trunk? Was the suspension broken? Was this some quality-control issue rearing its ugly head?
No. It was just the J1772 slow-charging adapter, rolling around in the EV6’s center console. The sound was driving me nuts, so I did what any reasonable person would do: I shoved it into my cupholder until I could pull over and toss it in the frunk.
2026 Hyundai Ioniq 9
Photo by: Patrick George
Right now in America, owning an EV means living in a kind of Adapter Hell. There are at least 7 million EVs registered for use on U.S. roads. Most of them, naturally, are Teslas, which use their own sleek North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug but have always required adapters for J1772 and CCS slow and fast charging, respectively.
A typical NACS to CCS1 charging adapter. Photo: Acura
Photo by: Acura
Non-Tesla EV owners have the same issue now. If they have a CCS plug, as my 2024 Kia does, they’ll need a Tesla NACS adapter to use the Supercharger stations. (Unless those stations have an adapter built in, which is extremely rare.) Or, if they’re one of the newer EVs with a native NACS plug, they need a J1772 and CCS adapter, just like a Tesla owner would. If you have an EV with a NACs plug for fast charging and a J1772 plug for slow charging, you’ll need both a CCS-to-NACS and a J1772-to-NACs adapter.
I know, it’s confusing. And not the sort of thing gas-car owners have to deal with. Since the vast majority of EV owners charge at home and only occasionally fast-charge for road trips, they may never really need an adapter. But if you want to maximize your chances of charging anywhere in America in 2025, you’re going to need at least two of them. Ford Tesla NACS adapter Photo by: Ford
Fine, I suppose. I generally like being able to charge at Tesla Supercharger stations. And this whole situation is a textbook example of First World Problems.
But I would love some place to put all these adapters that’s convenient, quiet and out of the way. So far, I haven’t found many great solutions.
I keep my Kia’s own NACS adapter in the frunk, such as it is. It’s a tiny little rectangular compartment atop what would be a plastic engine cover on a gas car. You can’t fit much in there. It’s also a bit annoying to have to open that up every single time I need to charge somewhere. I could keep it in the small parcel compartment under the floor of my trunk, but then it too slides around and makes noise.
2025 Kia EV6
Photo by: Patrick George
There’s the door pocket, but that’s also not a very elegant solution. Even so, I do use that all of the time for the various cars I test and their J1772 adapters. I need that for my home ChargePoint plug. Sometimes I’ve stored these in the center console, if there is one, or the glove compartment—again, if there is one.
And what if your EV doesn’t have a frunk, like many of the General Motors electric models? (“Center console,” Chevy Blazer EV owner Mack Hogan said.) 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 XRT Photo by: Patrick George
What’s an electric driver gotta do to get an easy, aesthetically pleasing place to put these damn things?
Thankfully, I am not alone in my grievances. It seems that EV owners have all kinds of different solutions to this conundrum. On Reddit’s Tesla Model 3 forum last year, one user took a poll of owners to ask the same thing, and their answers were all over the board: most said they do it in the trunk, then the frunk, then the center console, in that order.
When the same question came up on Reddit’s Rivian board, solutions were even more varied.
“Either the frunk netting or the rear seat under storage,” one user said.
“Keep my DC (high speed) A2Z adapter in the cabin (driver’s side door) to keep it in climate-controlled comfort. All other charging [adapters] are in the frunk,” another said.
“I keep mine in the spare tire compartment unless I’m on a trip where it will get used. Then it just sits in its case, either on the passenger side floor or door compartment,” another added.
Not exactly consensus on this pressing challenge for electric mobility. Ioniq Guy Adapter Photo by: The Ioniq Guy
As always, the aftermarket finds a way. The Ioniq Guy, who runs an excellent YouTube channel about Hyundai Motor Group EVs, also has a website where he sells some self-made gear. That includes a little adapter holder designed to go in three different places, depending on your preference: the glove box, center console or trunk. That guy’s doing the Lord’s work. Some of those seem like they might work on any EV; some do not. I’m also not seeing a ton of options for cars with CCS plugs that use NACS adapters, as my car does.
The point is, Adapter Hell only has to be Adapter Purgatory—something we deal with only for a little while before we enter the Promised Land (no more adapters.) In theory, as Tesla’s NACS becomes the one true American Charging Standard, we’ll be using fewer and fewer of these things.
For now, I challenge the car companies to do something here: come up with a better solution for this. Build it in, or charge us something stupid at the dealership to buy one. We’ll all thank you. Your dealers will thank you. Then one day, we can all ascend to Adapter-Free Heaven together.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com More Adapter News We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Insideevs.com? – The InsideEVs team
