Ford electric vehicle owners to get access to rival Tesla Supercharger network

Ford EV drivers will have access to 12,000 Tesla stations starting as early as spring 2024

This Tesla Supercharger station in Westlake, California, is one of about 12,000 in North America. AP

All of Ford Motor's current and future electric vehicles will have access to about 12,000 Tesla Supercharger stations in the US and Canada starting from next spring, both companies' chief executives said on Thursday.

Ford chief executive Jim Farley and Tesla boss Elon Musk shared news of the agreement during a Twitter Spaces audio chat.

“We think this is a huge move for our industry and for all electric customers,” Mr Farley said.

Mr Musk said he did not want Tesla's network to be a “walled garden” and that he wanted to use it to support sustainable transport.

“It is our intent to do everything possible to support Ford and have Ford be on an equal footing at Tesla Superchargers,” he said.

Mr Farley said there would be a cost to Ford owners, perhaps a monthly subscription, but he did n

t give specifics.

Details of any financial arrangement between Ford and Tesla were not announced.

At first, Ford's current electric vehicles will need an adapter to hook into the Tesla stations, which have their own connector.

But Ford will switch to Tesla's North American Charging Standard connector with its second-generation EVs starting in 2025, Mr Farley said.

He said Tesla's Superchargers have great locations.

“We love the locations. We love the reliability,” Mr Farley said.

He said the Tesla stations would join Ford's Blue Oval charging network, which has about 10,000 fast-charging stations.

Ford EV owners will be able to access the Tesla chargers seamlessly with Ford's app, Mr Musk said.

Tesla has about 17,000 Supercharger stations in the US.

There are about 54,000 public charging stations in the US, according to the Department of Energy, but many charge much more slowly than the Tesla centres.

It was not clear how the Ford-Tesla deal would affect a plan to open part of Tesla’s charging network to all EVs.

The White House announced in February that at least 7,500 chargers from Tesla’s Supercharger and Destination Charger network would be available to non-Tesla electric vehicles by the end of 2024.

The chat between Mr Musk, who last autumn bought Twitter for $44 billion, and Mr Farley was without the embarrassing technical glitches that plagued Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s announcement on Wednesday that he was running for president.