Charging your Rivian R2 at a Tesla station will be easy

The upcoming Rivian R2 will ship with a NACS charging port, meaning it’s natively compatible with the Tesla Supercharger Network. There’s just one problem: The charging port is on the passenger side (right), meaning it may be difficult to reach at some Supercharger locations. Tesla places the charging port on the driver’s side (left) of the vehicle, usually near the rear under a taillight cover. To make it easier to charge the R2 at a Supercharger station, Rivian plans to change the location of the charging port.

Available years

Select available years2026 Rivian R2

A Rivan forum user confirmed that Rivian planned this change before the R2 went into production. Every prototype shown publicly had the port on the right side rear. “We can confirm that the charging port will be located on the rear driver side of the R2,” a Rivian spokesperson confirmed to AutoBuzz. “We look forward to sharing more information and specifications on R2 in the future.”

Why change location?

Rivian originally placed the charging port on the right side to allow charging while parked on the street. With the port on the driver’s side, EV owners must wrap the cable over the hood to charge. This arrangement is less common in the U.S., where chargers typically have a traditional driveway parking space.

Add CarBuzz to your Google News feed.

If Rivian were to leave the charger on the passenger side, it could disrupt the charging flow at a Tesla Supercharger, as an R2 owner would have to double park and take up two spots. Since the charging port is now in a similar location to a Tesla, R2 drivers should have no problems plugging in their car.

Will other Rivians also make the switch?

Rivian was one of the first automakers to enable fast charging at a Supercharger station. This requires an adapter, as the R1T and R1S still ship with a CCS port, not a NACS port. Both vehicles have a charging port on the front left bumper, allowing them to drive directly into most Supercharger locations without having to back up.

Related

5 reasons why you should be excited about the partnership between Rivian and Volkswagen

VW and Rivian are joining forces. This is what the future could look like…

Both R1 vehicles were recently redesigned, leaving the charging port location unchanged, so we doubt Rivian will make a change before an entirely new model comes to market. As for the R3, production is still far enough away that Rivian has plenty of time to change the port placement. The R2 won’t launch until 2026, and the R3 doesn’t have an official on-sale date yet.