Ford will use Tesla’s supercharger port starting in 2025

Ford will use Tesla’s supercharger port starting in 2025

Official news from Ford and Tesla: Starting in early 2024, Ford will offer its electric vehicle owners a Tesla adapter (priced at $175). With the adapter, Ford electric vehicles will be able to charge at over 12,000 chargers in the United States and Canada. Ford wrote, “Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning, and E-Transit customers will be able to access Supercharger stations through the adapter and software integration, and activate and pay through FordPass or Ford Pro Intelligence.” Starting in 2025, Ford electric vehicles will utilize Tesla’s Supercharger ports, now known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS). This means Ford electric vehicles will have the best charging customer experience in the United States.

The NACS is a single AC/DC outlet, while the CCS1 and CCS2 have separate AC/DC outlets. This makes the NACS more compact. However, the NACS also has a limitation: it’s incompatible with markets with three-phase AC power, such as Europe and China. Therefore, the NACS is difficult to apply in markets with three-phase power, such as Europe and China.

Under Ford’s leadership, will other overseas automakers follow suit in developing electric vehicles equipped with NACS ports—given Tesla’s commanding nearly 60% share of the US EV market—or at least provide adapters for such ports to EV buyers? The US operator stated: “Electrify America is America’s largest open ultra-fast charging network, built upon the widely adopted SAE Combined Charging System (CCS-1) standard. Currently, over 26 automotive brands utilise the CCS-1 standard. Since inception, the company has been committed to establishing an inclusive and open ultra-fast charging network to promote electric vehicle (EV) adoption. Since 2020, our charging sessions have increased twentyfold. In 2022, we successfully facilitated over 50,000 charging sessions and delivered 2 GW/h of electricity, while continuing to open new charging stations and replace earlier-generation chargers with the latest technology. Electrify America was also the first company in North America to introduce standards-based plug-and-play technology, enabling seamless charging experiences across multiple vehicles. As the electric vehicle charging infrastructure landscape continues to evolve, we will remain vigilant in monitoring market demand and government policies. Electrify America is committed to being part of a broader charging solution for electric vehicle drivers today and in the future.”

Another US-based mobile power technology company, FreeWire, commended the Tesla and Ford collaboration. For a sustainable transition to electric mobility, investment must be rapidly scaled up, and reliable, publicly accessible fast-charging infrastructure must be widely deployed. This will require all charging providers to work together to meet public charging demand, and we support Tesla’s steps to open its technology and network. FreeWire has long championed industry-wide standardisation, as it enhances driver convenience and enables infrastructure to keep pace with nationwide EV adoption. FreeWire plans to offer NACS connectors on Boost Chargers by mid-2024.

Ford’s entry into the NACS camp is undoubtedly significant news for other traditional automakers. Could this signal a trend towards NACS gradually dominating the North American charging market? and whether ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’ will become the strategy adopted by other brands. Whether NACS achieves universal adoption or replaces CCS1 remains to be seen. Yet this move undoubtedly casts another layer of uncertainty over Chinese charging infrastructure companies already hesitant to enter the US market.