Ford to bring Tesla’s charging tech into its future EVs

Ford has reached an agreement with rival Tesla that will give owners of Ford’s EVs access to more than 12,000 Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada. The deal was announced during a Twitter Spaces between Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley.

However, this agreement reaches far beyond providing access to Tesla’s superchargers via an adapter, although aTesla-developed adapter will provide Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit vehicles fitted with the Combined Charging System port access to Tesla’s V3 Superchargers.

More importantly, Ford said its future EVs will be equipped with Tesla’s charge port called the North American Charging Standard (NACS) starting in 2025. This suggests that Ford’s second-generation EVs, which for now is an electric truck and a three-row SUV, will come equipped with the Tesla charging tech.

Ford second-generation EVs with the NACS port will have the option of charging at CCS chargers via an adapter, according to Ford.

“We’re very happy to support Ford vehicles with the Tesla Supercharger network, and also provide API access,” Musk said Thursday. “So like a Ford vehicle can charge at a Tesla supercharger using a Ford app seamlessly. Essentially, 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 is supportive of electrification and sustainable transport in general.”

The charging connector in all Tesla vehicles offers AC charging and up to 1 MW DC charging. Its compact design and performance is considered superior to the Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors used by most EVs in North America. Last year, Tesla shared its 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.

Ford customers will have access to twice as many fast-chargers starting in spring 2024 through the agreement with Tesla, according to the automakers.

Ford customers already have access to its so-called BlueOval Charge Network, a public charging network with over 84,000 chargers including access to over 10,000 public DC fast-chargers. Additionally, Ford dealers are adding roughly 1,800 public-facing fast-chargers and locations to the BlueOval Charge Network by early 2024.