Ford CEO Jim Farley and Elon Musk recently announced that by early 2024 all 12,000 Tesla Superchargers will be available in Ford vehicles. Farley also announced next-generation Ford vehicles will be able to port NACS, Tesla’s standardized version of its proprietary charging system.
Elon Musk said, “We don’t want Tesla’s superchargers to become a walled garden,” on the Twitter Space call. According to Musk, Tesla wants Ford to have an equal footing when it comes to a charging network.
The Twitter Space stage is strong this time, following the disaster that became the presidential announcement speech of Gov. Ron DeSantis yesterday.
The conversation between the two automaker CEOs comes as EV competition continues to rise. Tesla enjoys its dominance over the growing electric vehicle industry, but other manufacturers are finally bringing more variety and alternatives to Tesla’s top-selling Model Y. Tesla has lowered prices several times recently. year to boost sales, bringing the Model 3 sedan under $40,000.
The price cuts aren’t just happening at Tesla. Ford has also lowered prices, and other manufacturers are approaching an industry EV price war.
Ford has some of the best-selling EVs (number two, to be exact), but they’ve been hamstrung by manufacturing problems that include faulty batteries that can catch fire (that issue has been addressed, but production has stopped at Lightning momentarily). Production of the Mustang Mach-E was also halted for several weeks while the company improved plant processes.
Ford restructured the company a year ago to operate separate businesses for its more profitable gas vehicles, now called Ford Blue, and electric efforts under Ford Model E – which, in fact, was the original intended name for Tesla’s Model 3 (they even. had to change the Model 3 logo to avoid infringing on Ford’s trademark).
Farley has praised Musk in the past, but he’s also thrown a few punches. One time last year, Farley announced how the Ford F-150 Lightning was already built and put on the road while Tesla’s Cybertruck was nowhere to be found (and still isn’t). “Take that, Elon Musk,” Farley said at the time.
Both Tesla and Ford are also participating in the National Charging Experience Consortium, a collaborative effort that brings together National Laboratories, EV equipment OEMs, and automakers to improve the reliability of charging infrastructure.
