Toyota Quietly Gave The 2027 Toyota RAV4 PHEV A Big Upgrade

With Tesla-style NACS ports and fast-charging capability on all trims, you can use your RAV4 PHEV like an EV.

Photo by: Patrick George

By: Suvrat Kothari

Nov 6, at 12:47pm ET

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You may not need the gas engine on the 2027 Toyota RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid all that much.
It gets a native NACS port now located near the driver's side door.
The RAV4 is among a handful of plug-in hybrids with fast-charging capability.

Toyota has quietly upgraded the sixth-generation RAV4 Plug-in Hybrid. All trims of the model year 2027 RAV4 PHEV now get a Tesla-style North American Charging Standard (NACS) port straight from the factory—plus fast-charging capability.

2027 Toyota RAV4 PHEV Fast-Charging Upgrades

That’s a pretty big deal for a few key reasons. When the RAV4 PHEV launched last year, it arrived with a CCS charging port at a time when all new EVs had started transitioning to native NACS ports. At the time, only the PHEV XSE and Woodland trims could fast charge, meaning you had to pay at least a $4,000 premium for the capability.

Now that fast-charging capability expands to the full PHEV lineup, all the way down to the entry SE model, which costs $42,100. The same goes for the top-trim GR Sport. Owners can now simply drive the 2027 RAV4 PHEV to Tesla Superchargers or any of the new stations equipped with NACS cables. It will charge at maximum rate of 50 kilowatts, enough to go from 10-80% in just 30 minutes.

Moreover, not many PHEVs get fast-charging capability, let alone native NACS ports. The RAV4 PHEV is now the first and only major PHEV in the U.S. to transition to the NACS port, joining the wave of new fully electric models doing the same.

Some other notable PHEVs that have fast-charging capability include the Mercedes GLC 350e which gets a CCS port and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV which gets the outdated CHAdeMO connector.

Gallery: 2026 Toyota RAV4 PHEV

Source: Patrick George

2027 Toyota RAV4 PHEV Home Charging Capability

If owners are used to plugging-in at home, they can continue to do so. The RAV4 PHEV gets an onboard AC charger for Level 1 and Level 2 charging. And home charging can now be faster as well, with GR Sport and SE trims getting 11 kW AC charging, up from 7 kW before. The XSE and Woodland were already rated for 11 kW since last year.

And the one final notable upgrade is that the charging port is now located near the driver’s side door—it was previously at the passenger’s side. This could be useful depending on how you park at home and where you live, since there’s no industry standard for the charging port location.

The newer V4 Tesla Superchargers, as well as Ionna, Walmart, and pretty much every major new station have long cables with well-engineered retraction systems, so the location of the port shouldn’t be a problem. The older V3 Tesla Superchargers will be a challenge since they were designed for rear left ports.

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The RAV4 PHEV gets up to 52 miles of EPA range from its 22.7 kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery. If you regularly plug it in, you can cover your everyday driving needs using battery power alone and use the gas engine for longer trips. And now, it looks like that charging experience just got a little better.

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