Sony’s Afeela Electric Vehicle Will Use This Charging Standard

• Sony Honda Mobility Inc. strikes deal with Tesla to use the EV maker's North American Charging Standard (NACS) and Supercharger network, both in the US and in Japan.

• The Afeela brand's first EV model is due to arrive in the US in 2026, featuring plenty of interior tech engineered by Sony.

• The sedan will be powered by a 91-kWh battery, the company has disclosed in the past.

Honda and Sony have teamed up on a new EV brand due to launch in 2025, having previewed the debut model with a sleek yet somewhat anonymously styled concept in 2023. Dubbed Afeela—and set to feature Sony's extensive collection of infotainment tech—the first EV will adopt a popular and aerodynamic fastback profile.

And now the venture has announced an agreement with Tesla, paving the way for Afeela to use the North American Charging Standard (NACS) and use Tesla's V3 and V4 Superchargers.

This also means Sony Honda Mobility Inc (SHM) will be the first company in Japan to migrate to the NACS standard—something Japanese manufacturers who've adopted NACS so far haven't done in their home country.

Afeela will join the ranks of GM, Ford, Honda, Lucid, Mercedes-Benz, Rivian, and others in adopting Tesla's NACS standard, adapters for which began to be distributed earlier this spring by a number of brands.

Afeela owners, by contrast, will not have to deal with adapters once the sedans arrive on sale. But at the same time we have to wonder just how many owners will also want to have a CCS adapter handy, as the switchover to NACS among charging networks will still take some time.

"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," said Yasuhide Mizuno, representative director, chairman, and CEO, Sony Honda Mobility Inc.

Just how much time will Afeela owners actually need to spend at Tesla Superchargers?

The brand has disclosed in the past that the debut model will feature a 91-kWh battery, but will permit only 150 kW charging, in contrast to 350-kW rates allowed by 800-volt architectures, for example. The official EPA range for Afeela's debut model won't be known for quite some time, even though we can make an educated guess based on its battery capacity, which should give it enough juice to eclipse the 370-mile mark.

The new brand has placed quite a significant focus on in-car infotainment, as well as in-car advertising, so owners are unlikely to become bored if sitting inside and waiting for the charging session to end.

Afeela, which calls itself a Mobility Tech Company, has also revealed that pre-orders for the first models will kick off in the first half of 2025. But US deliveries won't begin until the spring of 2026, by which time Honda will also have launched the first EVs based on its proprietary e:Architecture platform. Honda's sole EV on sale now uses GM's Ultium platform, by contrast.

One question SHM has yet to answer in a compelling manner is why consumers would take a chance on an entirely new offering, at a time when brands including Lucid and Polestar are facing some headwinds.

Just how Honda and Afeela will coexist in this gleaming future of 2026, and how many EV shoppers will be impressed by Sony's promises of non-stop infotainment, is yet up for debate.

But the two companies are seemingly betting that we are merely in the early years of consuming content inside our vehicles, and that other automakers aren't exploiting in-car tech to its fullest potential.

By the end of the decade, Afeela might also see some competition from yet another Japanese electronics giant, with Sharp having recently revealed plans for its own EV project.

Will EV shoppers in 2026 want more infotainment tech in their cars, to the point of taking a chance on a new brand, or is the current level of in-car tech adequate? Let us know what you think in the comments below.