Ford to Build EVs With Tesla's Proprietary Charging Port

pcmag.com:

Ford will manufacture its EVs with Tesla's proprietary charging port starting in 2025. In exchange, Tesla will give Ford drivers the ability to charge at 12,000 of its Supercharger stations.

“Tesla has led the industry in creating a large, reliable, and efficient charging system and we are pleased to be able to join forces in a way that benefits customers and overall EV adoption,” says(Opens in a new window) Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for Ford Model e(Opens in a new window), the brand's EV-focused business.

Ford and Tesla were light on details, including how much it will cost Ford drivers to charge at Tesla locations and which Supercharger stations will support Ford vehicles. In an email to PCMag, Ford declined to comment, but said the payment experience for Ford drivers will mimic that of Tesla owners, and will be done through the Ford mobile app.

S&P Global Mobility estimates(Opens in a new window) there are about 16,822 Tesla Superchargers(Opens in a new window) in the US, with the largest portion in California.

Supercharger access for Ford drivers will begin in 2024 if they purchase a "Tesla-developed adapter," as its vehicles are currently equipped with the global standard for non-Teslas, known as the Combined Charging System (CCS) port.

In 2025, Ford will make a manufacturing switch: It will stop building its vehicles with CCS ports and swap in the Tesla proprietary connector. It's a win for Tesla, which has been open about its mission to supplant CCS with its own charging port as the national standard. In November 2022, Tesla published the manufacturing specifications for its charging port, and encouraged other automakers to adopt it, which it has dubbed the "North American Charging Standard (NACS)."

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