Terrsa and Ford made an announcement today that many Tesla owners feared. in a Twitter space StoryTesla CEO Elon Musk and his colleague Jim Farley said that starting next spring, all current and future Ford electric vehicles will have access to nearly 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations in North America. said it would.
The move would make life easier for Ford EV owners by making Tesla eligible for billions of dollars in subsidies being offered in the U.S. to improve the charging experience for electric vehicles. But for Tesla customers, waiting times at charging stations could be longer, even though many customers have already complained about congestion at charging stations.
“That’s the only thing I’m worried about,” said John Sargent, a Tesla owner in Seattle. wall street journal in February. He added that even if non-Tesla vehicles don’t take up the coveted space, “they really need to put in more superchargers.”
That’s not to say Musk hasn’t hinted that day will come. He suggested several years ago that his automakers would eventually open up their networks to other companies. And in February, as part of a bipartisan infrastructure effort, Whites announced that they would “build a convenient and reliable American-made electric vehicle (EV) charging network so that the great American road trip could be electrified. announced a series of actions. Lo invests $7.5 billion in EV charging.
The White House said Tesla would be the first to “open up portions of the U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger Network to non-Tesla EVs, with at least 7,500 chargers available for all EVs by the end of 2024.” ‘ said.
Musk reiterated today that he doesn’t want Tesla’s charging stations to become “walled gardens,” adding, “I’m going to support Ford and for Ford to be on equal footing with Tesla Supercharger.” Our intention is to do the best we can.”
Ford’s current vehicles require an adapter for Tesla’s stations, but the second-generation vehicles of 2025 will use Tesla’s North American charging standard connector.
Last November, Tesla announced that it would be sharing its EV connector design with other automakers, writing on its blog: , regarding equipment and vehicles. “
Ford’s Farley spoke with Musk today and praised Tesla’s charging stations. “This is a really big deal for our customers…we love the location and the reliability…what you and your team have done for them is absolutely amazing.”
Tesla customers currently using these stations need not be too excited, of course.