Ford Motor Company announced on Thursday that it and Tesla Inc. have reached an agreement to give owners of its electric vehicles access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America starting in early 2024.
Ford is the first major manufacturer to adopt Tesla's proprietary charging standard as a result of the partnership between the two rivals, providing Ford access to the country's largest network of high-speed Superchargers.
According to researchers, one of the biggest barriers to a wider adoption of electric vehicles is now access to charging stations.
Tesla announced in November of last year that it will let other automakers and charging network operators to use its proprietary charging system.
Ford EVs equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS) connector will have access to Tesla's V3 Superchargers thanks to an adaptor created by Tesla. Beginning in 2025, Ford will outfit future EVs with Tesla's proprietary charging standard, eliminating the requirement for an adaptor for direct access to Tesla Superchargers.
"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," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during an online Twitter Spaces conversation with Ford CEO Jim Farley.
"We love the locations, we love the reliability, your routing software, the ease of use of the connector, the reliability of it," Farley said.
"Tesla storms through the train station like 300 kilometers per hour Shinkansen," Farley said, referring to Japanese bullet trains. "We're learning a lot."
With 17,711 Superchargers, or nearly 60% of all fast chargers in the United States, Tesla has the ability to increase a vehicle's range by hundreds of miles in under one hour or less.
During the Twitter Spaces conversation on Thursday, Farley announced the collaboration. Musk is the owner of Twitter.
The event occurs the day after Musk's attempts to promote the social media company he paid $44 billion for last year were hampered by Twitter's many outages during a highly anticipated live audio chat between Musk and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The half-hour-long talk between Musk and Farley on Twitter Spaces went off without a hitch.
On the infrastructure side, I think there's space for some collaboration amongst the auto industries, which is very unnatural for us, Farley said earlier on Thursday at a Morgan Stanley discussion.
Farley added, "I think we need to start – I mean, I think the first step is to work together in a way we haven't, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional old companies."
He referred to it as "totally ridiculous" that the business uses several connectors for its charging networks and that "we can't even agree on what plug to use."
Musk stated in a tweet from earlier this month: "I think Ford's overall EV approach is smart. High demand exists for the electric F-150 (Lightning).
He also justified Ford's losses in the market for electric vehicles. "Margins for new vehicle lines are always tight, especially when there are significant technological changes."
On Thursday, Farley suggested that Ford take the initiative to get in touch with a brand-new business, such as Tesla, Nio Inc., or BYD, "to kind of work together in a non-natural way as competitors." Ford will likely act in that manner simply because it is the type of business we are.
As the Biden administration looks to grant billions in subsidies to develop charging networks, Tesla has started to go beyond its proprietary connectors and adopt the competing CCS standard at some of its charging stations in the United States this year.
(Source:www.ft.com)
Ford is the first major manufacturer to adopt Tesla's proprietary charging standard as a result of the partnership between the two rivals, providing Ford access to the country's largest network of high-speed Superchargers.
According to researchers, one of the biggest barriers to a wider adoption of electric vehicles is now access to charging stations.
Tesla announced in November of last year that it will let other automakers and charging network operators to use its proprietary charging system.
Ford EVs equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS) connector will have access to Tesla's V3 Superchargers thanks to an adaptor created by Tesla. Beginning in 2025, Ford will outfit future EVs with Tesla's proprietary charging standard, eliminating the requirement for an adaptor for direct access to Tesla Superchargers.
"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," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during an online Twitter Spaces conversation with Ford CEO Jim Farley.
"We love the locations, we love the reliability, your routing software, the ease of use of the connector, the reliability of it," Farley said.
"Tesla storms through the train station like 300 kilometers per hour Shinkansen," Farley said, referring to Japanese bullet trains. "We're learning a lot."
With 17,711 Superchargers, or nearly 60% of all fast chargers in the United States, Tesla has the ability to increase a vehicle's range by hundreds of miles in under one hour or less.
During the Twitter Spaces conversation on Thursday, Farley announced the collaboration. Musk is the owner of Twitter.
The event occurs the day after Musk's attempts to promote the social media company he paid $44 billion for last year were hampered by Twitter's many outages during a highly anticipated live audio chat between Musk and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The half-hour-long talk between Musk and Farley on Twitter Spaces went off without a hitch.
On the infrastructure side, I think there's space for some collaboration amongst the auto industries, which is very unnatural for us, Farley said earlier on Thursday at a Morgan Stanley discussion.
Farley added, "I think we need to start – I mean, I think the first step is to work together in a way we haven't, probably with the new EV brands and the traditional old companies."
He referred to it as "totally ridiculous" that the business uses several connectors for its charging networks and that "we can't even agree on what plug to use."
Musk stated in a tweet from earlier this month: "I think Ford's overall EV approach is smart. High demand exists for the electric F-150 (Lightning).
He also justified Ford's losses in the market for electric vehicles. "Margins for new vehicle lines are always tight, especially when there are significant technological changes."
On Thursday, Farley suggested that Ford take the initiative to get in touch with a brand-new business, such as Tesla, Nio Inc., or BYD, "to kind of work together in a non-natural way as competitors." Ford will likely act in that manner simply because it is the type of business we are.
As the Biden administration looks to grant billions in subsidies to develop charging networks, Tesla has started to go beyond its proprietary connectors and adopt the competing CCS standard at some of its charging stations in the United States this year.
(Source:www.ft.com)