It was already announced in February that Tesla was opening its US charging network to competitors. Since then, support for Tesla’s charging network standard has grown. Ford CEO Jim Farley explains why the US carmaker entered into a supercharger cooperation with Tesla.
• Ford is the first competitor to enter into a supercharger cooperation with Tesla
• According to Farley, Tesla has “the better solution”
• Cooperation brings benefits for both Tesla and Ford
Ford CEO Jim Farley embarked on a 1,100-mile journey in the F-150 Lightning through California and Nevada this summer. In an interview with Ryan Levenson of “The Kilowatts”, he reported on his journey and explained why Ford was the first competitor to decide to enter into a supercharger cooperation with Tesla in North America, thanks to which Ford customers initially charged Tesla’s charging stations via an adapter and From 2025 onwards, you can use it with the new electric cars that will be equipped with the appropriate sockets.
Support for Tesla’s charging network standard continued to grow: In June it was announced that Tesla was opening its Supercharger charging network for General Motors electric cars. Rivian and BTC Power announced that they are adopting the North American Charging Standard (NACS). VW is also following the example of Ford and GM and wants to make it possible for its electric car customers in North America to use Tesla’s charging network.
Farley: Tesla has “the better solution”
According to Farley, when Ford brought Doug Fields back, there had already been a debate about whether its own connector was competitive with Tesla’s. “We’ve all had problems with the plugs, we run over them and they break, and all sorts of things have happened,” Farley said. It then became clear to Ford executives that Tesla’s plug was the better solution. “It was designed better. I hate to say it, but it was,” explains Farley in the interview. Ford then held talks with Tesla, which then came to nothing.
However, after US laws allowing funding for free Tesla superchargers were passed, while Ford rose to number two in EV sales in the US, talks were resumed.
Cooperation brings advantages for Tesla and Ford
Farley sees the advantages of the resulting cooperation not only at Tesla, but also at Ford.
To illustrate how big the difference is between Tesla and other electric car manufacturers in terms of charging convenience, Farley describes in the interview a situation from his trip when he stopped at a charging station in California where there were Superchargers and other charging stations. According to Farley, the Tesla drivers sat in their cars and watched videos while the others outside talked to each other and gave tips. It was the same at the Supercharger stations – although that was a few years ago. Thanks to the cooperation, Ford will soon be able to offer its customers the same level of comfort.
In addition, Farley explains that thanks to the cooperation, Tesla drivers will be able to switch to Ford in the future, knowing that they can still use the Supercharger network. Additionally, Ford’s vehicles could pique the curiosity of Tesla drivers if they saw them fast-charging more often, Farley said.
Collaboration needed to improve customer experience
The Ford CEO also explained in the interview that when it comes to electric cars, he no longer wants to talk about range anxiety, but rather about charging anxiety, which he saw on his trip. As electric cars move into the mainstream, you get customers with very little knowledge and have “a huge human problem” to solve.
In addition, Farley also spoke about the increasing cooperation between car manufacturers in the wake of electrification. In his opinion, collaborations are necessary in the age of electric vehicles to improve the customer experience. “We have to solve this. We are making it difficult for customers. That’s why Ford took the lead [bei der Einführung von NACS, Anm. d. Red.]” explains Farley.
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