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In a teamup that we hope like hell goes much better than Elon Musk’s rollout of Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign, Ford and Tesla are teaming up to greatly expand access to fast EV charging all over the USA, the two companies announced yesterday.
The Detroit News reports that Musk joined Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley to announce that starting in 2024, electric vehicles built by Ford will be able to use Tesla’s Supercharger network, which up until now has been exclusively available to Tesla EVs. That means owners of Ford EVs will have access to 12,000 more fast charging stations, which will instantly double the number of fast charging spots they can use.
The two CEOs announced the deal in a Twitter Space chat, of course, only there appear to have been no amusing messy glitches like those that made the DeSantis event comedy gold.
“We’re ramping production and we think this a huge move for our industry and for our all-electric customers,” Farley said. “Widespread access to fast-charging is absolutely vital to our growth as an EV brand.”
“We don’t want the Tesla Supercharger network to be like a walled garden,” Musk said. “We want it to be something that is supportive of electrification and sustainable transport in general. … It is our intent to do everything possible to support Ford and have Ford be on an equal footing at Tesla Superchargers.”
It will probably also mean revenue for Tesla, which should be a relief to stockholders wondering why the fucking manchild has been pissing away his time and fortune on turning Twitter into a rightwing hellscape.
Tesla uses a proprietary charging plug design, so at first Ford owners will use an adapter that Tesla will develop and provide to Ford owners, and no the article doesn’t say if they’ll need to buy it from Elon, though we’d guess Ford will pay Tesla for the gadgets.
Fords, like most other EVs sold in America, currently use a “Combined Charging System” (CCS) port, which is incompatible with Tesla’s chargers, hence the need for the adapter. But then starting in 2025, things will get interesting, the Detroit News ‘splains:
Starting in 2025, when it’s set to launch its second generation of electric vehicles, Ford will equip its EVs with the [“North American Charging Standard”] NACS charge port that Tesla vehicles have, eliminating the need for an adapter.
And if Ford is going all in, other automakers may buy in, increasing the likelihood that Tesla’s NACS standard will become the national norm, like VHS beating out Beta in the videocassette wars. We honestly don’t know enough about the standards, but these nerds say Tesla’s design is superior, so maybe this time Beta wins?
The two CEOs certainly think this is a game-changer, and for once, CEO talk may actually be right. Yeah, and in the same week a Republican made a decision based on medical evidence, too!
Farley hinted at the move during an event earlier Thursday with Morgan Stanley, where he talked about there being “room for some collaboration between the auto companies — which is totally unnatural for us.”
“Right now we have two different plugs. […] They’re completely different,” Farley said. “It seems totally ridiculous that we have an infrastructure problem and we can’t even agree on what plug to use.”
Musk also said that “consumers will be all the better for it” if NACS becomes the standard, and hey, if it really is better tech, then… good? Even if it’s helping Musk? Just as long as Musk isn’t also communing on the astral plane with Henry Ford, who in addition to founding the car company was a notorious antisemite. What if the new charging arrangement causes every Ford to upload the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the vehicle’s entertainment system? Musk might do that just for the sake of trolling.
Even so, we’re optimistic, because anything that moves the transition to EVs faster is good news for the climate. Probably. We hope.
Hey kids, remember to drop in later this afternoon when the Wonkette Book Club has its second meeting this summer! We’re reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s climate epicThe Ministry for the Futureand discussing chapters 2 through 30 today (they’re short chapters!)
Drop in even if you haven’t finished the reading, because again, it’s a book club not a class. Here’s our first discussion if you want to get a sense of what’s going on. This linky gives Wonkette a cut of any sales, too, so you can grab an ebook now! Heck, even if you aren’t reading the book, drop by later and chat climate!
[Detroit News / Clean Technica / Image generated using Stable Diffusion 2.1 AI]
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