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Ford has reached an agreement with rival Tesla that will give Ford EV owners access to more than 12,000 Superchargers in the US and Canada.
However, this agreement goes far beyond giving access to Tesla’s superchargers via an adapter. Ford said next generations of EVs will be equipped with Tesla’s charging port, called the North American Charging Standard (NACS), from 2025. Ford’s second-generation EV portfolio includes an electric truck and a three-row SUV. The surprise deal was announced Thursday during a Twitter Spaces between Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley.
According to Ford, Ford’s second-generation EVs with the NACS port have the option to charge at CCS chargers via an adapter. The automaker said the adapter will be affordable, and Farley noted that Ford will offer different types of payment options, such as subscriptions. Musk said the adapter will be “in the hundreds of dollars range.”
“We are very happy to support Ford vehicles with the Tesla Supercharge network and also provide API access,” Musk said Thursday. “So like a Ford vehicle can charge seamlessly at a Tesla supercharger using a Ford app. Essentially, the idea is that we don’t want the Tesla Supercharger network to be a walled garden. We want it to be something that supports electrification and sustainable transport in general.”
The charging connector in all Tesla vehicles provides AC charging and up to 1 MW DC charging. The compact design and performance are considered superior to the Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors used by most EVs in North America. Last year, Tesla shared the design of the EV charging connector in an effort 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 allow their Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit vehicles equipped with the Combined Charging System port to access Tesla’s V3 Superchargers.
According to the automakers, Ford customers will have access to twice as many fast chargers from the spring of 2024 through the agreement with Tesla.
At the Twitter Spaces, Farley praised the location of Tesla’s Superchargers, the reliability of the routing software and the ease of use of Tesla’s connector.
Ford customers already have access to the BlueOval Charge Network, a public charging network with more than 84,000 chargers, including access to more than 10,000 public DC fast chargers. In addition, Ford dealers will add approximately 1,800 public fast chargers and locations to the BlueOval Charge Network by early 2024.