The day has finally arrived. We’re not talking about leap day.
It’s a milestone day for the U.S. electric-vehicle industry. The
supercharger network is now open to
EV drivers. That helps solve one of the key concerns new car buyers have about EVs. And it’s a bit of good news for an industry that could use some good news now.
Ford announced Thursday that its Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E retail customers are the “first of any non-Tesla auto maker to gain access to Tesla Superchargers across the U.S. and Canada.”
Ford drivers can find Tesla supercharges in the Ford Pass App on their phones. Activating a charger can also be done in the app—drivers need to identify what charger they are at with a few clicks and then they can plug their EV in using an adapter. (Some Tesla stations that have adapters built in—that’s a minority.)
Payment is made with stored credit-card information in the Ford App.
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The required charging adapter is complimentary if ordered by June 30, 2024. It can be reserved here. Future buyers can buy it from Ford for $230. Adapters will also be available on
Ford and Tesla stocks are relatively unchanged in early trading Thursday.
and
futures are both down about 0.2%.
Investors have known since May 2023 that this day was coming. Ford was the first auto maker to announce that its EV drivers could charge at Tesla’s charging stations. Many other auto makers followed.
Eventually, those auto makers will adopt the Tesla charging-plug technology. Right now, drivers need that adapter—it’s a little like traveling to Europe with American plugs.
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Tesla operates the largest network of fast-charging stations in the U.S.—the kind that can deliver 50-plus miles of range in minutes. These are the kind needed for road trips. Slower chargers are great for work or at home.
Tesla ended 2023 with some 55,000 supercharger stalls in operations worldwide, up from about 51,000 at the end of 2022.
Tesla’s extensive network is one reason that Tesla drivers don’t suffer as much from range anxiety—the fear of needing a charge far away from home with no plugs around. Reducing range anxiety can help the industry sell more EVs.
Decelerating EV sales growth has hit investor sentiment lately. Shares of Tesla,
and
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are down 19%, 23%, and 52%, respectively. Slowing sales growth is a big reason for those declines.
Range anxiety, however, isn’t the only reason people aren’t buying EVs now. There currently aren’t enough affordable options. Tesla, which dominates EV sales, is considered a luxury brand, and Lucid and Rivian vehicles start north of $70,000 each.
That one has yet to be solved in the U.S.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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