Ford, Tesla shares up more than 7% on Superchargers deal

May 26 (Reuters) – Shares of Ford Motor Co (FN) rose more than 7% on Friday after the No. 2 US automaker announced a deal giving EV owners access to the charging stations of rival Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) in North America.

Tesla’s Superchargers could become the standard for electric vehicle charging in the United States, Ford CEO Jim Farley told CNBC, but added: “With adapters and software, we really don’t have to make a choice now what the standard is, But I think it’s going to play out on the free market.”

Ford shares rose 7.6% to $12.25 in afternoon trading, while Tesla shares rose 7.5% to $197.95.

US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg praised the Ford-Tesla deal but told CNBC the Biden administration would not dictate an electric vehicle charging standard. “Tesla has built an extraordinary network… To have them part of this effort is fantastic news.”

Access to charging stations is so far considered one of the main hurdles to wider adoption of electric vehicles, analysts said.

Farley added that General Motors Co (GM.N) and other automakers will have “a big choice to make” when choosing between Tesla’s EV chargers and the Combined Charging System (CCS).

CCS is a competitive charging plug standard for DC fast charging.

GM said open charging networks and standards are the best way to enable EV adoption across the industry, and it has been working with other automakers to develop an open connector standard in the CCS, which would provide a “truly universal solution” is now available for fast charging.

“We believe the move will ultimately increase BEV (Battery Electric Vehicles) penetration in North America, and in an emerging tide-lifts-all-boats argument, increase Tesla sales,” said RBC Capital Markets- analysts in a note.

Since 2012, Tesla has been developing and deploying its own high-speed car charger called Supercharger, which can add up to 518 km of range in just 15 minutes.

Farley said Ford had about 10,000 fast chargers and the agreement with Tesla will double that.

Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Reshma George; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta, Matthew Lewis and Devika Syamnath

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