Jonathan M. Gitlin - Jan 31, 2024 3:56 pm UTC
Owners of Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks and Ford Mustang Mach-E electric crossovers will soon be able to reserve an adapter that lets them use Tesla Supercharger stations. Ford CEO Jim Farley—last seen driving Ars around Charlotte Motor Speedway in a 1,300-hp Transit van—took to social media and confirmed that the adapter will be free and that owners will be able to reserve one soon. Charging Module 20kw
"When we announced @Ford EVs would get access to @Tesla Superchargers, I said we'd send customers a Fast Charging Adapter. I'm pleased to confirm that eligible #MustangMachE & #F150Lightning owners in the U.S. + Canada can reserve a complimentary adapter starting soon," Farley wrote.
"This is our way of saying thank you! We want to make charging more convenient for our Ford EV owners, so we're excited to add Tesla chargers and will continue growing our BlueOval Charge Network. More details soon."
In May 2023, Ford was the first automaker to announce it was dropping the CCS1 plug for what's now known as the J3400 standard for DC fast charging (it was previously known as NACS). As part of the announcement, Ford revealed that it had negotiated access to Tesla's Supercharger network, which has many more plugs deployed across the US than all the CCS1 chargers combined.
Ford's news set off a flurry of activity from other automakers who also negotiated access to the Supercharger network and led to the successful effort to have SAE International take over stewardship of the charging standard from Tesla.
The announcements from the automakers (almost) all followed the same formula: access to the Supercharger network for their customers at some point in 2024 via an adapter, then native J3400 ports built into their EVs from 2025.
The J3400 standard uses the same electronic communications protocol as the existing CCS standard, so the adapters merely need to connect the right pins together, similar to a CCS1 to CCS2 adapter. (A quick search online shows quite a few adapters already exist that allow Tesla EVs to charge with CCS1 chargers.)
Ford says owners will be able to reserve their complimentary adapter starting this spring.
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