Ford announced that it will provide free adapters for Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning owners to access Tesla’s Supercharger network.
Ford was the first to sign a deal with Tesla to adopt its charge connector, now known as NACS, in its future electric vehicles.
It sent the ball rolling, and now virtually all automakers in North America have adopted it – making it the new standard charge connector in North America.
The bulk of the deal was for Ford to incorporate the NACS connector in its upcoming vehicles starting in 2025, but in the meantime, automakers, like Ford, said that it would offer CCS to NACS adapters to existing EV owners in North America to access the Supercharger network.
Today, Ford CEO Jim Farley announced that the automaker will provide those adapters for free:
It’s not clear what would make those owners “eligible”, but we have the impression that it should be made widely available.
Farley said it is coming “soon”, but a press representative told Electrek that “eligible owners can reserve a complimentary adapter starting this spring.”
Tesla recently said that it would start onboarding Ford and GM EV owners with adapters on its Supercharger network starting in February 2024.
Ford said in an email:
Ford wants to make charging more convenient for our customers, and we are adding Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada to our growing BlueOval Charge Network, which more than doubles the number of fast chargers available to Ford EV drivers.
The automaker said that the complimentary adapter to existing EV owners is a way “to say thank you” to them.
Ford has had some issues with its EV plans, and it has recently cut down production of some of its EV programs, like the Lightning.
The automaker is hoping that access to a larger and more reliable fast-charging network could help make owning its electric vehicles more appealing. Tesla’s Supercharger network consistently ranks as the most extensive and reliable network.