Ford EV to start using Telsa’s charging plug in the coming year. This means that starting from the coming year, Ford electric car owners will be able to fast charge their vehicles using the supercharger network of Telsa.
Ford EV Using Telsa’s Charging Plug
Both Ford CEO Jim Farley and Elon Musk have just announced that in early 2024 all 12,000 Tesla Superchargers will be operational with Ford vehicles. Farley also reportedly announced that next-generation Ford vehicles would be coming equipped with the NACS port, which is Tesla’s standardized version of its proprietary charging system.
Elon Musk stated, “We don’t want Tesla superchargers to be a walled garden,” on the Twitter Space call. And according to Musk, Tesla wants Ford to have an equal footing in regard to a charging network.
The Twitter Space stage was however stable this very time around, following up with the disaster that was Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential announcement speech yesterday.
EV Competition Continues To Be On the Rise
The conversation that took place between the two automaker CEOs comes as EV competition continues to be on the rise. Tesla has enjoyed its dominance at the top of the growing electric vehicle industry, but other manufacturers are however finally bringing on more variety as well as alternatives to Tesla’s top-selling Model Y. Tesla has now dropped prices a couple of times this year alone in a bid to spur sales, thus bringing the Model 3 sedan just under $40,000.
Price cuts are not just only happening at Tesla. Ford had also dropped prices as well, and other manufacturers in the industry are inching closer to an industry-wide EV price war.
Ford However Has Some of the Best-Selling EVs in the Market
Ford however has some of the best-selling EVs (number two, to be exact), but it has been hamstrung by manufacturing issues that included faulty batteries that could easily catch fire (that issue was reportedly addressed, but it however stalled Lightning production for some time). Mustang Mach-E production also was stalled for a couple of weeks as the company made improvements in processes at the plant.
Ford had to restructure the company a year ago in a bid to operate separate businesses for its highly profitable gas vehicles, which are now called Ford Blue, and its electric efforts under Ford Model E — which, by the way, originally was the intended name for Tesla’s Model 3 (they even had to change the Model 3 logo in a bid to not infringe on the trademark of Ford).
The Relationship between Ford and Telsa
Farley has praised Musk prior to this, but he has also dished out some punches. at a point in the previous year, Farley touted just how the Ford F-150 Lightning was already being manufactured as well as being put on the road while Tesla’s Cybertruck wasn’t anywhere in sight (and it still isn’t at this time). “Take that, Elon Musk,” Farley said at the time.
The National Charging Experience Consortium
Both Tesla and Ford in question have also joined the National Charging Experience Consortium, which is a collaborative effort that gets to bring together National Laboratories, EV equipment OEMs, as well as automakers in improving charging infrastructure reliability.
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