Well, this was a surprise! Ford Motor Company has made a deal with Tesla Motors to provide its customers with Tesla Supercharger station access.
Ford, Tesla Supercharger Deal
Ford recently announced the agreement that will provide Ford EV customers access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada beginning in Spring 2024. The automaker says it will double the number of fast-chargers currently available to Ford EV customers.
“This is great news for our customers who will have unprecedented access to the largest network of fast-chargers in the U.S. and Canada with 12,000+ Tesla Superchargers plus 10,000+ fast-chargers already in the BlueOval Charge Network,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “Widespread access to fast-charging is absolutely vital to our growth as an EV brand, and this breakthrough agreement comes as we are ramping up production of our popular Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, and preparing to launch a series of next-generation EVs starting in 2025.”
A Ford F-150 Lightning at a Tesla charging station. Credit: Ford.
Added Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of charging infrastructure: “We’ve spent the last 10 years building an industry-leading Charging Network that enables freedom to travel and provides charging confidence for our Tesla owners. We’re excited to deliver on our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by welcoming Ford owners, and other electric vehicles who adopt NACS, to our thousands of Superchargers across North America.”
Tesla-Developed Adaptor Required Until 2025
Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit customers will need a Tesla-developed adapter to use the Superchargers. It will provide those vehicles with Combined Charging System (CCS) port access to Tesla’s V3 Superchargers.
“Tesla has led the industry in creating a large, reliable and efficient charging system and we are pleased to be able to join forces in a way that benefits customers and overall EV adoption,” said Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer, Ford Model e. “The Tesla Supercharger network has excellent reliability and the NACS plug is smaller and lighter. Overall, this provides a superior experience for customers.”
Ford says it will equip future EVs with the NACS charge port, so there won't be a need for an adaptor starting in 2025.
Ford's BlueOval Charging Network
Ford says it's BlueOval Charge Network is already North America’s largest public charging network with over 84,000 chargers. That includes access to over 10,000 public DC fast-chargers. The automaker says adding more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers is designed to significantly reduce range anxiety for its customers and that it creates the single largest integrated fast-charge network across the U.S. and Canada. FordPass will provide automatic routing to the nearest charger and seamless billing.
Ford says its dealers will also be adding roughly 1,800 public-facing fast-chargers and locations to the BlueOval Charge Network by early 2024.
Photo Credit: Ford.