Ford has reached an agreement with rival Tesla that will give owners of Ford EVs access to more than 12,000 Turbochargers across the United States and Canada. The deal was announced in a Twitter space between Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley.
The deal, however, goes beyond providing access to Tesla’s superchargers via an adapter. Ford says its future electric cars will be equipped with Tesla’s charging port called North American charging standard (NACS) starting in 2025. This suggests that Ford’s second-generation electric vehicles, currently electric trucks and three-row SUVs, will be equipped with Tesla charging technology.
The second-generation Ford EV with a NACS port will have the option to charge at a CCS charger via an adapter, according to Ford. The automaker says the adapter will be affordable, and Farley noted that Ford will offer different types of payment options, such as subscriptions. Musk said it would be “in the hundreds of dollars range.”
“We are happy to support Ford vehicles with the Tesla Supercharger network, while also providing API access,” Musk said Thursday. “So it’s like a Ford car being able to charge with a Tesla supercharger using the Ford app seamlessly. Basically, the idea is that we don’t want the Tesla Supercharger network to be like a walled garden. We want it to be something that supports electrification and sustainable transportation in general.”
The charging connector in all Tesla vehicles provides up to 1 MW of AC and DC charging. Its compact design and performance are considered superior to those of the Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors used by most electric vehicles in North America. Last year, Tesla shared EV charging connector design in an effort to encourage network operators and automakers to adopt the technology and help make it the new standard in North America.
Existing Ford EV customers will use the Tesla-developed adapter to have their Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit vehicles equipped with an accessible Hybrid Charging System port access to Tesla’s V3 Turbocharger.
According to the automakers, Ford customers will have access to twice as many fast chargers starting in spring 2024 through a deal with Tesla.
In the Twitter Space, Farley praised the location of the Tesla Supercharger, 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 more than 84,000 chargers including access to over 10,000 public DC fast chargers. Additionally, Ford dealers will add approximately 1,800 public fast chargers and locations to the BlueOval Charging Network in early 2024.
