The road to Progress has never been so smooth. Witnesses, as a metaphor, Ford Motor Company attempts to sell the ordeals and tribulations of electric vehicle drivers are the primary charging experience: a simple, frictionless, and even pleasant pit stop that could convince more buyers to pour their gas pipes into the plug.
But Ford announced today that it will offer EV charging adapters to qualified customers a year later, finally making a good attitude to that commitment.
Ford said it has sent 140,000 fast charging adapters, giving thousands of 2021-2024 Mach-E and lighting drivers access to the Tesla supercharger network. Customers can now access using 44,000 fast chargers in North America (53% compared to a year ago), which can charge cars in just 20 minutes. Overall, North American Ford drivers now have access to 180,000 chargers, which the company says makes it the largest integrated public charging network in the mainland.
Before the 2-pound adapter could appear in the driver’s mailbox, Ford experienced nearly two years of changes, delays, some manufacturing lapses, and a low-level kerfuffle with Tesla, which remains the country’s leading EV maker. The whole process is a microcosm of the wider challenges facing automakers who are trying to ride a wonderful global market and policy to transition to electric vehicles. It also responded to Ford’s stop-start in its own EV launch, which included production delays and pauses, which made it difficult to reduce production costs, and announced that the company would restart its electrification strategy to emphasize hybrid battery-to-battery power batteries, canceling one electric SUV and delaying another in the process.
Ford said it was crucial to get this adapter and public charges, as most of the company’s electric car customers now switched from gasoline-powered cars. “We know that making the charging experience better will make them feel better about buying,” said CEO Jim Farley. Connected to Tesla’s supercharged network, long considered the most reliable and built in the United States, is part of the automaker’s strategy to get more people into electric cars.
However, nationwide, public charges remain problematic. Last month, the federal government suspended a national plan to build a strong network of charging stations throughout the United States. A recent JD Power survey found that one in five EV drivers who visited public charging stations in the last three months of 2024 could not charge due to power outages, long waiting times, failed payments and damaged equipment. Vandalism is also a problem. Tesla has confirmed that it is testing a product called a “Dyeer” that sprays blue-tinted dye on anyone trying to cut its charging cable.
The survey says the first three obstacles for vehicle shoppers to buy electric cars on electric cars are related to charges: lack of charges; longer charging time; and limited battery range. “If anyone feels that the public charging infrastructure is not supported enough, they might choose ice trucks,” said Brent Gruber, head of electric vehicle practice at JD Power, referring to internal combustion engines.
