Tesla stands to earn billions of dollars a year by opening U.S. charging stations to drivers of Ford and other EVs

As
of
Thursday,
owners
of


Ford
electric
vehicles
—
the
Mustang
Mach-E
and
F-150
Lightning
—
in
North
America
finally
have
the
ability
to
power
up
using
Tesla
Superchargers.

Ford
CEO
Jim
Farley
wrote

in
a
post
on
LinkedIn
that
the
charging
partnership,
which
involves
use
of
fast-charging
adapters,
should
“improve
the
EV
ownership
experience,”
for
Ford
EV
drivers,
noting
that
“I’ve
tested
it
myself
and
its
works
great.”

Tesla
has
forged
a
similar
agreement
with


General
Motors,
which
was

announced
in
June,
giving
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
of
a
planned
investment
in
building
out
EV
charging
stations.

The
partnerships
mark
a
strategy
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
locations
that
would
keep
consumers
from
sitting
in
long
lines.
Becoming
the
charging
standard
has
required
Tesla
to
invest
heavily
in
technical
and
business
development.

But
Tesla
has
plenty
to
gain
from
working
with
others.

Sam
Fiorani,
vice
president
for
global
forecasting
at
AutoForecast
Solutions,
said
these
efforts
should
eventually
yield
huge
financial
benefits
for
Tesla,
including
from
environmental
credits
and
fees
for
charging
sessions.

Currently,
Tesla
operates
about
one
in
three
charging
stations
in
the
U.S.
Even
if
adoption
of
battery
electric
vehicles
slows
domestically,
and
the
fleet
of
electric
vehicles
is
smaller
than
what
the
government
and
many
automakers
planned
six
months
ago,
“Tesla
could
still
see
$6
billion
to
$12
billion
a
year,”
by
2030
from
its
expanded
charging
business,
Fiorani
said
in
an
email.

While
Tesla
could
lose
some
customers
to
other
brands
by
making
charging
easier,
AutoForecast
said
there
are
other
reasons
car
buyers
flock
to
Tesla.

“People
shopping
for
a
Tesla
aren’t
typically
cross-shopping
at
Kia,
Ford,
or
Mercedes-Benz
dealers
because
they
simply
want
a
Tesla,”
Fiorani
wrote.
“Competition
will
continue
to
heat
up
and
Tesla
will
inevitably
lose
some
sales
to
rivals,
but
loyalty
to
the
brand
means
the
vast
majority
of
owners
will
return
to
Tesla
with
little
or
no
comparison
shopping.”

Allowing
other
automakers
to
tap
its
charging
network
also
opens
up
some
federal
money
for
Tesla
under
President
Biden’s
Inflation
Reduction
Act.

“Tesla
is
not
afraid
to
use
government
regulations
for
income
and
has
been
working
all
possible
revenue
streams
for
much
of
its
existence,”
Fiorani
wrote.

Tesla
didn’t
respond
to
a
request
for
further
information.

Tesla
reports
charging
revenue
with
its
“Total
automotive
&
services
and
other
segment
revenue.”
The
company
hasn’t
said
whether
it
may
break
out
revenue
from
non-Tesla
vehicle
use
of
its
charging
network.

William
Navarro
Jameson,
Tesla’s
Strategic
Charging
Programs
lead,
wrote

in
a
post
on
LinkedIn
on
Thursday
that
getting
to
this
point
with
Ford
has
required
a
lot
of
“interoperability
testing”
along
with
creating
all
the
necessary
hardware
and
software
integrations
and
working
through
legal
issues.

“There
have
been
so
many
pieces
to
this
puzzle
that
have
been
put
in
place
over
the
past
18
months,”
he
wrote.

On
social
media,
Tesla
touted
the
opening
up
of
its
charging
network
in
North
America
and
circulated
a
link
to
entice
more
retailers
to
host
Superchargers
at
their
facilities.

WATCH:

Tesla
charging
connector
is
on
pace
to
become
the
North
America
EV
standard