Ford will add NACS to next gen EVs!

Next gen Ford EVs will include NACS port. Also will have a NACS to CCS adapter for existing Ford EVs and will be made compatible with Tesla Superchargers via software update.

Honestly never thought any other automaker would take up NACS so this is very surprising.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2023/05/25/ford-ev-customers-to-gain-access-to-12-000-tesla-superchargers--.html

Moderator note: The first couple pages of this thread are a merge of two different threads on the same topic.

 

[ChrisInVegas]

As a MYLR and Lightning owner, this is AMAZING news! I will pay double to charge my Lightning on a Tesla charger. When we road-trip, reliability is what counts.

 

[TheHippo]

Is this the first major manufacturer to adopt a NACS port? If so, that's huge (well, small). I wonder if other manufacturers will follow suit, and if they will place their charging ports in places that lend themselves more accessible to superchargers without blocking adjacent stalls.

It depends on how much Tesla is charging automakers to access the Supercharger.

 

[TheHippo]

Hopefully the Next Gen Ford EV with NACS ports all come in the back left of the cars similar to Teslas. I hope Tesla requires this so that everyone can coexist at the superchargers. It seems that this is one of the final nails in the CCS charging standard in the USA. A tidal wave of manufacturers will come Tesla's way to not give up their competitive advantage against Ford and Tesla. If there is no requirement on where the charger is located we may have a lot of unused stalls where cars cannot charge.

Or they just standardize pull through locations everywhere so that anyone can park.

Not quite.

NEVI requires CCS.

Also, not every automaker is willing to pay Tesla to gain access to the Supercharger.

 

[Eto Demerzel]

Strategic offensive move by Ford. One of the larger determining factors in purchasing an ev is the Supercharger network.

GM and Stellantis will now appear like old tech stuck on CCS.

Win for Ford, against US competition.
Win for Tesla if this opens the floodgates for NACS to become the mainstream standard.
Win for consumers not dealing with that dated CCS plug and donkey kong arcade level charging stations.

 

[CDrury]

Am I the only one that thinks this sucks for Tesla owners?

 

[Cheburashka]

Screw Ford. Worst dealers, worst buying experience. Hope it falls through for some reason.

 

[TheHippo]

Strategic offensive move by Ford. One of the larger determining factors in purchasing an ev is the Supercharger network.

GM and Stellantis will now appear like old tech stuck on CCS.

Win for Ford, against US competition.
Win for Tesla if this opens the floodgates for NACS to become the mainstream standard.
Win for consumers not dealing with that dated CCS plug and donkey kong arcade level charging stations.

I am not sure what is "old" about CCS.

CCS will continue to be used by automakers who don't want to pay Tesla to use the Supercharger.

 

[Cheburashka]

Also CCS has 800v support whereas Tesla does not right now.

Then again Ford charging speeds are trash and they probably won't have 800v architecture any time soon.

 

[E90alex]

Not quite.

NEVI requires CCS.

Also, not every automaker is willing to pay Tesla to gain access to the Supercharger.

If Tesla wanted to, they could potentially develop a CCS adapter with a built in communications chip and sell it themselves to anyone that wants one.

Whoever buys one will need to register it with a Tesla account and attach a payment method. Then the Supercharger can communicate with the adapter to obtain it’s serial number or whatever and authenticate charging and payment that way.

But that would allow too many cars to use Superchargers and the network is not big enough for that yet. Eventually I could see it happening once they have so many locations that overcrowding is less of an issue.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I thought that at first too. But it was mentioned that the adapter won't go into production until early next year, almost a year from now. Why the delay?

Also, it doesn't help with Ford's poor charge port location. So unless Tesla is planning to install longer cables at every station over the next year, it would make sense for it to be an adapter cable.

The charge port location is fine. Driver's side is good. Front fender is the best if you park forwards and walk back out as I do because the charging cable is never in your way if you need access to the inside of the car.

Also, if hands are full it's easy to put something on the roof, plug in, grab and go.

Not as good for DCFC, but we plug in around 125 times per year at home so I'd rather have a car optimized for that.

Kona is front driver side, and I dislike it. It adds up to 10 seconds each home session.

But, there is no perfect position, only bad ones.

 

[TheHippo]

If Tesla wanted to, they could potentially develop a CCS adapter with a built in communications chip and sell it themselves to anyone that wants one.

Whoever buys one will need to register it with a Tesla account and attach a payment method. Then the Supercharger can communicate with the adapter to obtain it’s serial number or whatever and authenticate charging and payment that way.

But that would allow too many cars to use Superchargers and the network is not big enough for that yet. Eventually I could see it happening once they have so many locations that overcrowding is less of an issue.

You miss the point.

Tesla has long said that other automakers can use the Supercharger so as long as they paid Tesla for the access.

Ford became the first automaker to pay Tesla for access.

That means zilch for anyone not driving a Ford EV.

 

[E90alex]

That was before Tesla made it a free and open standard last year.

Did Ford pay Tesla something? Maybe, maybe not. You keep parroting that point after every post in several threads. Who cares? That’s irrelevant.

Whether money was exchanged or not, Ford is the first legacy automaker to put their tail between their legs and admit the Tesla supercharger network is superior to CCS and be willing to put the NACS port on their cars. And they are willing to work with Tesla on the back end to make it work via Plug and Charge and the Ford Pass network.

Even if Ford paid for the privilege, Tesla could still sell an adapter themselves if they wanted to and allow other CCS cars to utilize the network outside of the magic dock locations.

 

[Earl]

Won't this cause more traffic and wait time at already busy Supercharger locations? Who is it good for? Not for me...

Am I the only one that thinks this sucks for Tesla owners?

Short term/zero-sum-game thinking. Long term: more users => more stalls and stations => better queuing capacity, more splitters, more options, better overall.
Carefully chosen peak-time pricing schemes for newcomers can moderate the short term impact until more stalls and sites can be added.

 

[KJD]

You understand that it will be about a year until that MachE will be able to use the Superchargers right? (Adapters go into production early next year.)

That's OK. Ford has shown a commitment to the future with this move. The CCS network is not great but it's good enough to get by until Ford adds the NACS port to its vehicles.

Things could also happen sooner than what they said in the announcement yesterday. Ford is old school, as in under promise and over deliver.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Am I the only one that thinks this sucks for Tesla owners?

Transitionally there could be some suckage because of the Detroit position of the charge port.
However, there's not that many Ford BEVs at the moment compared to Tesla.
The Fords also won't get the adapter until next year, and that brings Tesla closer to rolling out v4.
As Tesla moves to v4 it'll be just another car. More cars, more revenue, more network.

With v2/v3 in Europe it sucked at holiday peak in some places. Hopefully this year it will be better as more non-Tesla BEV owners better understand how to park with the least impact.

 

[Watts_Up]

After reading various comments, I still wonder:

- Will the future 2024 Ford EVs have a NACS plug or will Ford keep the CCS-1 and use a NACS adapter?

I hear that Elon Musk mentioned that the adapter will cost about $100, but would this be forr the older pre-2024 Ford EVs?

I wonder if keeping the CCS-1 plug is simpler because all the L2 AC Public chargers use the J1772 plug so no need of an adapter like Tesla users have to do.

 

[TheHippo]

That was before Tesla made it a free and open standard last year.

Tesla did not.

I read the so called "specification" and no where does it say how the vehicle would authenticate with the Supercharger.

Did Ford pay Tesla something? Maybe, maybe not. You keep parroting that point after every post in several threads. Who cares? That’s irrelevant.

Whether money was exchanged or not, Ford is the first legacy automaker to put their tail between their legs and admit the Tesla supercharger network is superior to CCS and be willing to put the NACS port on their cars. And they are willing to work with Tesla on the back end to make it work via Plug and Charge and the Ford Pass network.

That is absolutely relevant.

There is an old saying:
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch

Even if Ford paid for the privilege, Tesla could still sell an adapter themselves if they wanted to and allow other CCS cars to utilize the network outside of the magic dock locations.

...but then other automakers (other than Ford) wouldn't pay for access to the Supercharger

 

[MP3Mike]

Will the future 2024 Ford EVs have a NACS plug or will Ford keep the CCS-1 and use a NACS adapter?

No, 2024 Ford EVs will not have the NACS connector. They said they would add that in 2025, which likely means for 2026 model year vehicles:

• In 2025, Ford will offer next-generation electric vehicles with the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector built-in, eliminating the need for an adapter to access Tesla Superchargers

 

[SageBrush]

There is an old saying:
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch

There is an even older saying:
Once paranoid, always paranoid

Tesla will corner the DC charging market due to competitive reasons: storage, vertical integration, and efficiency. Somewhere down the line, Tesla will act like every other capitalistic company in the US and use their market dominance to gouge the consumer. By then the politicians will force an ATT style break-up of Tesla

Not a charming way of doing things, but we just might get an accelerated transition to a clean energy economy. I focus on the big picture

 

[Earl]

Transitionally there could be some suckage because of the Detroit position of the charge port.

This should not be a problem. Both ends are known (1) Supercharger cable length and position. 2) current Mach-e and Lightning charge ports), therefore, the adapter can easily contain enough cable to reach from the current ports to the Supercharger connector.
Future design, just like with Tesla, knows exactly where the charge ports need to be in order to reach.