Lectron Vortex Plug Review
We Finally Charged a Kia at a Supercharger!
Gone are the days where electric vehicles are limited to where they can travel due to the lack of a reliable charging infrastructure. With Tesla ramping up their rollout of Supercharger access to include other brands, we finally got our chance to charge a non-Tesla branded car at the Supercharger. Thanks to Lectron and the Vortex Plug, we also didn’t need to rely on Kia to ship us an OEM adapter to give our 2024 Kia EV9 a shot with the electric network. Was this as seamless as charging our Tesla? Let’s find out!
While every major car manufacturer has committed to pivoting to Tesla’s charging port of choice: NACS, most of us who currently own non-Tesla EV’s don’t actually have that port. Instead, we’re left with the CCS port that will unfortunately be left behind once every EV is natively compatible with Tesla’s network and comes with the port that enables access to Tesla’s Supercharging by default.
It’s even more difficult to time when charging at a Supercharger is possible as many owners are at the mercy of the carmaker when it comes to when they’ll receive an OEM adapter. However, even though we can’t upgrade cars for new tech as frequently as we do with smartphones, we’re not completely left out of the Supercharging club with the help of the Vortex Plug from Lectron.
RETAIL Price: $249.99
Disclaimer: Lectron sent us a unit free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
How It Works
An NACS cable mounted into the Vortex Plug
We took the Vortex Plug to a non-Magic Dock Supercharger and put it to the test and was quite impressed with just how seamless the whole process was. That’s especially so with the activation of Kia’s new Kia Charge Pass that we just had pushed to our phone app recently. It’s an all-purpose charging payment and location hub that unifies the charging experience on the EV9. That means I can just open this one thing in the Kia app and I’m able to charge the car at a Supercharger without the need to download the Tesla app.
So how exactly did everything work out? Well, we pulled into a rather large Supercharger on a gloomy day so it was open season for parking spots. That was fortunate for us as the charging port on the Kia EV9 is located on the wrong side of the car. Tesla’s have their NACS plug on the driver’s side that accommodates the short cables off the Superchargers. Superchargers fundamentally want you to back into the spot to use its cable. That’s a problem if your port is on the passenger’s side.
Some of the larger Supercharger locations house a spot that is somewhat detached from the rest of the lot. We found one and had to park with our car peaking out forward past the charger in order for the cable to reach the port.
Currently Charging
Electric vehicles from ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Polestar, Volvo, Rivian, and Nissan can currently charge at superchargers.
Once the EV9 was situated, we opened our port door and pulled off the CCS charging flap to join the J1772 port. This is where the Lectron Vortex Plug comes into play. I was initially surprised at how well constructed this adapter felt in my hands when I first unboxed it. It is on the bulkier side and slightly on the heavier side as far as adapters are concerned, but that’s manageable as it will be likely stashed in your frunk or trunk most of the time anyway.
On Lectron’s website they have an endurance stress test video as a marketing tool and while we obviously didn’t want to put the adapter through a Jerryrigseverything-type of testing, I did see it in action out in the rain. It performed without any hiccups and that was that.
The Vortex Plug has two latch releases. The one on the top is pressed to release the adapter from the car’s port. The one on the underside is pressed to release the NACS plug at the Supercharger from the Vortex. All I had to do was plug in the Vortex to my EV, then plug the NACS plug into the adapter. Everything connected effortlessly.
Only for Supercharging
I did want to note that while the NACS plug is universal for all levels of charge, meaning the port is the same for the level 2 plug at your home, as well as the level 3 Supercharging plug, this specific adapter can only work with Superchargers. It’s not an adapter for at home charging or other types of Tesla charging such as Destination Chargers. Those will require a J1772 to NACS adapter. That’s one huge reason why the switch to NACS as a standard is such a big deal to the EV market. It’s just so much more convenient and less confusing for the masses.
Starting the charge
Now that the Supercharging cable is adapted into our EV9, all we have to do is open the Kia Charge Pass portion of the app and make sure we have a valid payment method assigned. I just use a credit card to keep things simple. The “Find Charging Station” tab will bring up a live map with chargers near your current location. Just find the Supercharger spot number and once the Start Charge button is pressed, that’s all that needs to be done.
It took a few seconds for everything to flow and get going, but that really is all there is to it. It’s slightly more work than the plug and go routine that makes being a Tesla owner so great, but it’s not that much more work where it warrants buying a Tesla if you like another carmaker’s offering better.
You can manually stop the charge with the app or wait for it to charge up to the designated range set. Once the charge is completed and only when it’s done do we remove the plug from the adapter. I just go through the plugging process in reverse.
Press the underside of the Vortex Plug to release the Supercharger cable from the adapter. Then press the overside to unlatch the adapter from the car port. Close the port door and you’re on your way back on the road.
While we personally hit about 84 kW as our high number while charging at the Supercharger that’s capable of pushing 250kW, it all depends on your charge state, the car type, where the battery level is currently at, and also the environmental influence. The Vortext Plug is rated rated for 500 amps and 1,000 volts.
final thoughts
This adapter theoretically opens up an additional 15,000+ charging locations across the United States to our EV. While charging outside of the house isn’t as cumbersome for most of our staff here at the Sypnotix, as we’re based in California where the infrastructure is well established, having Supercharging access is vital to electric cars.
There is no true competitor to Tesla’s charging network just from an accessibility ranking. The Lectron Vortex Plug perfectly accommodates those EV’s like ours that missed the NACS port change by a mere few months. It’s an essential piece of tech for owners like that.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees and support our channel by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
With the help of Lectron’s Vortex Plug, we finally got to charge the Kia EV9 at a Tesla Supercharger.