Ford taps Tesla superchargers in rare partnership

Ford Motor has struck a deal with competitor Tesla to give its electric-vehicle customers access to the Tesla Supercharger network.

The Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit vehicles will be able to power up on 12,000 Superchargers across North America starting next year, using an adapter.

The company’s next-generation vehicles, starting in 2025, will have the Tesla charging capability built in.

The partnership makes it the first major automaker to adopt Tesla’s so-called North American Charging Standard, giving its customers access to the largest, fastest and most reliable network of EV chargers. Access to reliable charging is a major concern among those interested in purchasing an EV.

“We’re really pumped up about working with you to making our customers’ lives better,” Ford chief executive officer Jim Farley said on a Twitter Spaces session with Elon Musk on Thursday.

Coming soon: More locations to charge your Ford® electric vehicle. Thousands of them. @Tesla https://t.co/FayrARjD3s pic.twitter.com/CtDEcqvdwu

— Ford Motor Company (@Ford) May 25, 2023

Both characterised the partnership as helping to accelerate EV adoption. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and owns Twitter.

Ford said for customers to use the Superchargers next year they’ll also need to do a software update and make a payment.

Musk said the charging adapters wouldn’t be “cost-prohibitive,” though neither CEO gave an exact price.

Farley said its customers will still be able to use their old chargers, known as Combined Charging System connectors.

In a blog post in November, Austin-based Tesla said its charging standard is now the most common in North America, with a network twice as large as the Combined Charging System network.

In February, the Musk-led EV maker said it would give other car companies more access to its chargers by the end of 2024.

Farley and Musk also praised one another for their respective companies, with the Ford CEO saying he wanted to make his company’s electric vehicles fully available to software updates, like Tesla vehicles.

“It’s super hard what Tesla has done,” Farley said. “And I totally respect them.”

Tesla controls nearly 60 per cent of the US electric vehicle market and Ford was a distant second last year. Farley has said he is aiming to eventually overtake Tesla.

In other newa, earlier this year, Ford said it is investing $3.5bn in an electric-vehicle battery plant in southwest Michigan that it will operate with technology and support from a Chinese battery maker.

Read: Ford is investing $3.5bn in EV battery plant with Chinese firm

The factory near Marshall, Michigan, will employ 2,500 workers, the company had said. The facility is set to open in 2026 and will produce enough batteries to power 400,000 EVs a year.

The US automaker will be contracting the battery know-how from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology, which will help set up the plant and have staff there.