Ford has reached an agreement with competitor Tesla that gives Ford electric vehicle owners access to more than 12,000 Superchargers in the US and Canada.
However, this agreement goes well beyond providing access to Tesla’s Superchargers via an adapter. Ford said its next generations of electric vehicles will come with Tesla’s charging connector, called the North American Charging Standard (NACS), starting in 2025. Ford’s second-generation electric vehicle portfolio includes an electric truck and a three-row SUV. The surprise deal was announced Thursday during a Twitter space between Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley.
Ford says second-generation NACS-connected EVs will have the ability to charge to CCS chargers via an adapter. The automaker said the adapter is affordable, and Farley pointed out that Ford will offer various payment options, such as subscriptions. Musk said the adapter will be “in the hundreds of dollars.”
“We are very happy to support Ford vehicles “We will work with the Tesla Supercharger network and also provide API access,” Musk said Thursday. “Like a Ford vehicle can be seamlessly charged on a Tesla supercharger via a Ford app. Essentially, the point is that the Tesla Supercharger network shouldn’t be like a walled garden. We want it to be something that supports electrification and sustainable transport in general.”
The charging port in all Tesla vehicles offers AC charging and up to 1MW DC charging. Its compact design and performance are considered superior to the Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors used by most electric vehicles in North America. Last year, Tesla unveiled the design of its electric vehicle charging connector to encourage network operators and automakers to adopt the technology and make it the new standard in North America.
Existing Ford EV customers will use an adapter developed by Tesla to enable their Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit vehicles equipped with the Combined Charging System connector to charge the V3 Superchargers from Tesla can access.
According to the automaker, the agreement with Tesla will give Ford customers access to twice as many fast chargers from spring 2024.
During the Twitter Spaces, Farley praised the location of Tesla’s Superchargers, the reliability of the routing software, and the ease of use of the Tesla connector.
Ford customers already have access to the so-called BlueOval Charge Network, a public charging network with over 84,000 chargers, including access to over 10,000 public DC fast chargers. In addition, Ford dealers will add approximately 1,800 publicly accessible fast charging stations and locations to the BlueOval Charge Network by early 2024.
