A Tesla electric car plugs into a recharging station at the Healthy Living Market store in South Burlington, Vermont, June 18, 2023.
Robert Nickelsburg | Getty Images
As of Thursday, owners stronghold Electric vehicles — the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning — in North America finally have the ability to run on Tesla Superchargers.
Ford CEO Jim Farley wrote in a LinkedIn post that the charging partnership, which includes the use of fast-charging adapters, should “improve the electric vehicle ownership experience” for Ford EV drivers, noting that “I've personally experienced it and it works.” great.”
Tesla has entered into a similar agreement with General Motors, which was announced in June, gives GM customers access to more than 12,000 Tesla fast chargers in the U.S. and Canada. GM CEO Mary Barra said at the time that her company expected to save up to $400 million from a planned investment in building electric vehicle charging stations.
These partnerships represent a strategic shift for Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who for years touted the exclusivity of Tesla's charging network and his company's ability to build reliable charging sites that would prevent consumers from sitting in long lines. The shift to a charging standard has required Tesla to invest heavily in technical and business development.
But Tesla has a lot to gain from working with others.
These efforts should ultimately yield huge financial benefits for Tesla, including environmental credits and charging session fees, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.
Currently, Tesla operates about one in every three charging stations in the United States. Even if adoption of battery electric vehicles slows domestically, and the electric vehicle fleet is smaller than the government and many automakers planned six months ago, “Tesla could still see a $6 billion to $12 billion target,” Fiorani said in an email. Annually” by 2030 from the expanded shipping business.
While Tesla may lose some customers to other brands by making charging easier, AutoForecast said there are other reasons why car buyers are flocking to Tesla.
“People who are shopping for a Tesla are not typically shopping at a Kia, Ford, or Mercedes-Benz dealership because they simply want a Tesla,” Fiorani wrote. “Competition will continue to heat up and Tesla will inevitably lose some sales to competitors, but brand loyalty means the vast majority of owners will return to Tesla with little to no comparison shopping.”
Allowing other automakers to tap into its charging network also opens up some federal money for Tesla under President Biden's inflation-reducing law.
“Tesla is not afraid to use government regulations to generate income, and has operated every possible revenue stream for much of its existence,” Fiorani wrote.
Tesla did not respond to a request for more information.
Tesla reports revenue through “total revenue from vehicles, services, and other segments.” The company did not say whether it would generate revenue from non-Tesla vehicles using its charging network.
William Navarro Jameson, Tesla's head of strategic charging programs, wrote in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that getting to this point with Ford requires a lot of “interoperability testing” along with establishing all necessary hardware and software integrations and working out legal issues.
“There have been a lot of pieces to this puzzle that have been put in place over the past 18 months,” he wrote.
On social media, Tesla promoted the opening of its charging network in North America and distributed a link to entice more retailers to host Superchargers at their facilities.
Watch: Tesla's charging connector is on pace to become the electric vehicle standard in North America
