Huge news for drivers of Ford electric vehicles. On Thursday, an auspicious leap year day, the Dearborn-based automaker announced that retail owners of F-150 Lightning pickup trucks and Mustang Mach-E SUVs can now take advantage of Tesla’s industry-leading Supercharger network. Drivers can juice up their Ford EVs at more than 15,000 new locations in both the U.S. and Canada.
These Superchargers are being added to the automaker’s BlueOval Charge Network, more than doubling customer access to DC fast charging, which should be a transformational change for EV owners, a huge step in the right direction. The BlueOval Charge Network now has some 126,000 chargers including more than 28,000 DC fast chargers for drivers to take advantage of.
If there’s any downside to this announcement, it’s that Ford’s current EVs are fitted with CCS charging sockets and therefore cannot be directly plugged into a Supercharger since they use Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug design. As a workaround, Ford is giving a special fast-charging adapter to existing Lightning and Mach-E owners. This small piece of hardware converts the NACS plug design to the more brand-agnostic CCS socket that has historically been used by auto manufacturers not associated with Elon Musk.
If you own an eligible vehicle and want to claim your free adapter (and why wouldn’t you?!), you can reserve one online before June 30, 2024. Make sure you’re enrolled in the BlueOval Charge Network, then head over to Ford.com/FastChargingAdapter. Log in, then click the “reserve your adapter” button, verify your shipping address and that’s it. You should receive your charging adapter in the mail very soon. Of course, if you miss that June deadline, or if you buy a new Ford EV, you can also purchase one of these pieces of hardware for around $230 including estimated tax and shipping fees.
“Starting today, Ford EV customers will have access to more than 15,000 Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada, more than doubling fast charging options on the BlueOval Charge Network,” said Jim Farley, the automaker’s president and CEO, in a media release. “This move will improve the public charging experience by giving our customers even more choice and is a vital part of our growth as an EV brand.”
Emphasizing this cross-brand partnership, Farley also said, “I would like to thank Elon and the Tesla team for their close collaboration and Tesla’s leadership to help change the lives of so many EV customers through improved access to charging.”
Ford’s new charging adapter is actually built by Tesla, though it has a dense, high-quality feel in your hand. This piece of hardware not only allows you to charge you Lightning or Mach-E at Superchargers, but it also supports super-convenient plug-and-charge functionality, so you just roll up to the cabinet, plug your vehicle in and that’s basically it. The battery starts absorbing energy automatically, no credit card to swipe or smartphone app to fiddle with.
Not surprisingly, this news gives Ford owners a huge advantage over other EV drivers, but how long the Dearborn-based automaker will remain ahead of rivals remains to be seen. Practically every OEM is switching to the NACS connector, and eventually, competitors will also be able to use Tesla Superchargers as well. Still, everyone benefits from fast, reliable and abundant DC fast charging.
