Ford & Tesla's Charge Alliance: Folly Defied
Ford made a deal with Tesla so that Ford electric car owners can easily charge on Tesla superchargers. The surprising partnership sends a bad message.
Good news for Ford's American customers! Jim Fairley, Ford's boss, and Elon Musk, Tesla's boss, made a joint announcement on Twitter on May 25th. They shared the terms of the agreement and some visions for electric vehicles. The partnership between the two brands centers around Ford using Tesla's superchargers for its vehicles.
Tesla is opening some of its American supercharging stations to all car makers. There are 12,000 charging points available, but access will expand gradually. However, unlike Europe, American supercharging stations do not use Combo CCS plugs. Instead, they use North American Charging Standard (NACS) plugs, which are specific to Tesla vehicles. Most cars are equipped with the international format of Combo CSS.
"Adapter First, Then Integrated Socket In Future Models"
Tesla will make an adapter for Ford electric cars to connect to the V3 supercharger. This will let Ford owners use the superchargers without waiting for all stations to be open. The adapter will be available early next year, according to Elon Musk.
Ford will use Tesla's charging standard in its future electric vehicles. This will eliminate the need for an adapter. Starting in 2025, Ford models will come equipped with NACS charging ports. It is unclear whether future models will have both Combo CCS and NCAS ports or just NCAS. It is possible for vehicles like the Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron GT to have two different charging ports in different locations on the vehicle.
To use Tesla superchargers easily, Ford needs to move their recharge port location. Currently, Ford Mustang Mach-e and F-150 Lightning need two spots to connect to Tesla stations.
Americans Launch Resistance To Combo CCS
Most countries and car manufacturers now use Combo CCS plugs for fast charging electric cars. However, Tesla in the US still use their own format. Even Japanese car manufacturers are switching from ChadeMo plugs to Combo CCS for international compatibility.
It feels like Europe is fighting the US over car charging, and that's probably true. German car companies pushed for the international adoption of their charging plug. In Europe, Tesla even uses the German plug on their cars and superchargers, but not in the US.
Tesla has been urging other car makers to use NCAS since the end of 2022. Ford is the first big international car maker to announce this. Before that, Aptera had already said it would use this plug in its solar vehicles.
Tesla wants to change the charging format, which may upset people. We should be united instead of divided.
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