Tesla will make charging easier for electric Ford owners
Tesla will give Ford owners access to 12,000 of its Superchargers in the US and Canada, with the Blue Oval brand also adding a dedicated charging port to its future electric vehicles, eliminating the need for an adapter.
The agreement was announced during a Twitter Spaces event with Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
An adapter developed by Tesla will make it possible F-150 Flash, Mustang Mach-E And E transit Owners get access to Tesla V3 Superchargers with software integration, activation and payment through FordPass or Ford Pro Intelligence.
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Starting in 2025, next-generation Ford electric vehicles will be equipped with a NACS (North American Charging Standard) charging port for direct access to superchargers.
Ford already has 84,000 chargers, including 10,000 fast chargers, on its BlueOval Charge Network in the US and Canada and plans to offer an additional 1,800 fast chargers at its dealerships by early 2024.
The V3 Superchargers support DC charging up to 250kW per car, with no power split between cars using the same device.
“Tesla is leading the industry in developing a large, reliable and efficient charging system, and we’re excited to join forces in a way that benefits customers and the wider adoption of electric vehicles,” said Marin Gjaja, Chief Customer Officer of Ford Model e. the brand’s electric vehicle division.
“The Tesla Supercharger network has excellent reliability, and the NACS connector is smaller and lighter. Overall, this offers customers a premium experience.”
“We’ve spent the last 10 years building an industry-leading charging network that empowers travel freedom and gives our Tesla owners charging confidence,” said Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of charging infrastructure.
“We’re excited to fulfill our mission to accelerate the world’s sustainable energy transition by welcoming Ford owners and other EVs using NACS to our thousands of Superchargers across North America.”
However, Tesla’s Australian Supercharger network is almost entirely limited to Tesla vehicles recently opened five locations in New South Wales on vehicles from other brands.
The company’s CEO has praised Ford’s overall strategy with electric vehicles and defended the financial performance of its competitor in the early years of the introduction of electric vehicles.
“Always tough on margins for new vehicle lines, especially when there are big technological changes,” Musk said on Twitter recently.
“I think Ford’s overall EV strategy is smart.”
Ford and Tesla CEOs have been known to praise and nudge each other online.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has previously publicly praised Mr Musk and congratulated him on winning TIME’s 2021 Person of the Year award, but last year he also teased him by saying “take that Elon Musk” during celebrating the early success of the F-150 Lightning.
Likewise, Mr. Musk congratulated Ford on “embracing an electric future” in 2021, but teased the Blue Oval brand with a clip from the Chris Farley comedy “Tommy Boy” in response to a perceived dig at Tesla’s “Full Self” beta system -Driving”.
