Ford
In the present day, Ford electrical automobiles gained entry to the Tesla Supercharger community. Final Could, the Blue Oval was the primary automaker to throw its lot in with what was then known as the North American Charging Customary and is now often called J3400. Ford proved to be the primary domino falling, and with Stellantis’ announcement earlier this month that it too would transfer to J3400, the extra compact DC fast-charging plug would be the de facto normal within the subsequent couple of years.
Till Ford made the swap, each non-Tesla EV in North America had settled on the Mixed Charging Customary 1 plug (apart from the Nissan Leaf, which nonetheless makes use of CHAdeMO). CCS1 and J3400 use the identical digital communication protocols—solely the precise plug and socket are completely different.
However it’s going to take a while for automotive makers to start out constructing J3400 ports into their EVs. That ought to start subsequent yr, most likely with the introduction of mannequin yr 2026. Because of this EVs older than MY26 might want to use a passive adapter to mate a J3400 charger cable with a CCS1-equipped EV.
Ford is making the adapter obtainable free of charge for Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning house owners so long as they order one by June 30 of this yr. After that date, the adapter will value $230. Ford says that Ford Professional fleet clients also can order a complimentary adapter for his or her EV (which incorporates the E-Transit in addition to the Mach-E and Lightning) by contacting their Ford Professional account supervisor. (Ford Professional can even contact fleet house owners by mail within the coming weeks.)
Ford
Ford EVs already use the ISO 15118 “plug and cost” protocol, which suggests they offer the charger their billing particulars as a part of the digital handshake, obviating the necessity to use an app or bank card to start out a charging session. And greater than 15,000 Tesla chargers will now present up within the BlueOval cost community, which clients can navigate to through the FordPass smartphone app or the Cost Help app on their infotainment techniques.
Ford EVs aren’t appropriate with each Tesla Supercharger, nonetheless. They have to be the more moderen models, that are in a position to cost at as much as 250 kW, recognized by a black collar on the base of the charging plug. Older chargers, which might solely cost at as much as 150 kW, have a silver collar as a substitute. Since these older chargers will not seem within the FordPass or ChargeAssist apps, it appears prudent for Ford EV drivers to make use of both of these to discover a appropriate charger location.
And the adapter is just for DC quick charging, not for Tesla’s AC vacation spot chargers. (Ford’s plug-in hybrids are solely able to AC charging, and there’s no want for them to have entry to an adapter, so they are going to by no means have the ability to use a Supercharger.)
I do not think about an Ars Technica reader having a lot bother with becoming the J3400 adapter, however for folks with much less dongle expertise, Ford has produced a short tutorial film. Maybe the one potential ache level will probably be unplugging one’s EV and driving off with out the adapter—a $230 lesson to be taught—however for the reason that Tesla cable must be put again in its holster, even that appears fairly unlikely.
“This transfer will enhance the general public charging expertise by giving our clients much more selection and is a crucial a part of our progress as an EV model,” stated Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.