On May 26th, Ford announced that it has reached an agreement with Tesla that electric vehicle owners can use over 12,000 Tesla Supercharging stations in North America starting from early 2024.
Initially, Tesla will use an adapter to connect Ford electric vehicles equipped with the Combined Charging System (CCS) interface to Tesla V3 Supercharging stations. Starting from 2025, Ford will equip its future electric vehicles with a charging interface that can be directly connected to Tesla Supercharging stations, eliminating the need for an adapter.
Ford stated that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Ford CEO Jim Farley will have an online conversation on Twitter on Thursday to discuss efforts to “accelerate the popularization of electric vehicles in North America.” However, on Wednesday, Musk held an audio live broadcast on Twitter with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, preparing to announce DeSantis’ participation in the United States presidency, but Twitter frequently crashed.
Musk said: “We don’t want the Tesla Supercharging station network to be like a walled garden. We want it to support the overall development of electrification and sustainable transportation.” Earlier this year, the White House stated that Tesla will open up its partially proprietary Supercharging network to other types of vehicles. This move is expected to make Tesla eligible to share billions of dollars in federal funding for building a national electric vehicle charging network.
In addition, Ford CEO Farley stated on Thursday that Ford should take the lead in contacting new companies such as Tesla, NIO, or BYD, “to collaborate with competitors in a non-natural way. I think you will see Ford do this because that’s who we are.”
