Ever since Ford shocked everyone by announcing the adoption of Tesla’s NACS charging connector and the Tesla Supercharger network, owners of Ford EVs have been eagerly awaiting NACS to CCS adapters and software integration. As of Thursday, they won’t be waiting much longer.
Owners of current Ford EVs can finally reserve a free NACS to CCS adapter, the physical key to Tesla’s Supercharger network. While a handful of Supercharger stations feature Magic Dock CCS compatibility, this adapter should open up access to most of them across the United States and Canada.
From Feb. 29 through June 30, there is no cost to reserve one adapter per vehicle for Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, and E-Transit owners who make the reservation through the Ford Connected Services website. Sorry, Focus Electric owners, this one’s not for you. Ford claims the adapters will be sent out “on a first-come, first-served basis,” so theoretically, they should be in owners’ hands soon-ish. Once the window for a free adapter closes, owners have to pay for each adapter, and screenshots posted by X user @jffxns suggests a list price of $230 after June 30.
There has been some speculation on how payment will work with the switch to NACS, but Ford makes it simpler than downloading Tesla’s app. Basically, each applicable Ford vehicle supports plug-and-charge payment through Ford’s BlueOval Charge Network account program. In theory, owners should just be able to plug into a Tesla Supercharger station, have the charging fee added to their account, and then pay off the balance. While BlueOval Charge Network membership previously consisted of a three-year free trial and an annual fee, Ford’s recently made it free for life, lowering a barrier to Supercharger access.
There is one limitation with Ford’s NACS to CCS adapter, and it’s that you can’t use it with Level 2 Tesla Destination Chargers. Thankfully, we’ve previously outlined places to get Level 2 adapters to plug SAE J1772 cars into Tesla Destination Chargers, but the outlay can still be an annoying expense.
It’s taken a while, but the promise of a better public DC fast charging experience for non-Tesla owners is right around the corner. While Ford’s jumping in first, other automakers are soon to follow suit in executing NACS plans, so expect to see more automakers shipping adapters soon. While this is a great first step, there are still questions that need to be answered. Will non-Tesla software play nicely with the Tesla Superchargers? Will Supercharger cables even reach the charging ports of many non-Tesla EVs? Can the Supercharger network handle the influx of traffic? We’ll soon find out, and as reports begin to surface, it’s our duty to share them with you.
(Photo credits: Ford, jffxns/X)
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“Will Supercharger cables even reach the charging ports of many non-Tesla EVs?”
The charging ports on the Lightning and Mach-E are in a terrible location for many Superchargers. The charging port on a Tesla is on the back left corner of the car. For most Superchargers I have used, you back your car into the parking spot and use the charger to your left. The cable isn’t very long, but it has no problem reaching the charging port.
For the Mach E or Lightning, the cable may not be long enough for you to back your vehicle in and use the charger to your left. If this ends up being the case, the only way to charge these vehicles would be to pull in forward and use the charger to your left (which would mean the charger is not available for a Tesla to back in and use). In effect, a Ford may have to take up two Supercharger stations to charge in stations set up like this. This could be a problem since it is relatively common to have to wait for a Supercharger at busier stations.
Maybe Ford could also include a longer cable with the adapter, if that is even possible?
If they are all Fords charging then there’s no problem. Wouldn’t that be a sight.
Longer cable dongle not possible, DCFC cables are filled will cooling magic and carry deadly levels of current.
The parking thing is not an issue with Tesla V4 chargers, but those are just now getting installed.
I was wrong, v3 has no magic. Maybe some extra dong would indeed please the Fords.
I was half expecting the adapters to include a length of cable, since almost all of the 23,000-ish chargers in the US/Canada have short cables to accommodate Tesla’s cars’ rear-left charge ports. Ford’s (and most other EVs) have them front-left, so have to take up two charge spots to reach the connector. (In any event, maybe NACS adoption might standardize on rear-left for future NACS-equipped cars to deal with the issue.)
I think I saw a Tesla app screenshot that now says something to the effect of “try to be mindful of not blocking too many other charging spaces” for cars with charge doors on the other side.
Ah. Well, if there happens to be a non-charging spot at the far end of a row, using that one might be the only mindful option.
I had the same concern about Fords occupying two spaces. Maybe they could designate spaces on the end as prioritized for non-Tesla vehicles? Maybe even program the stations such that vehicles are directed to spaces that best accommodate their plug configurations?
I used to have a similar problem when I had a Leaf. Most chargers only had CCS plugs, but at many stations one of the chargers also had a CHAdeMO plug.
I often had to wait for the one charger with the CHAdeMO port to be become available even though there were multiple open CCS chargers for other vehicles to use. It is exceptionally frustrating when chargers are working and available but inaccessible.
I don’t think this is going to be a problem for long, though. If all cars end up using Tesla’s existing network, I imagine the de facto standard will be to have charging ports at the back left of future vehicles.
I guess front right would solve it as well — but there’s a lot more walking involved with that arrangement!
I’d prefer that to backing in though. It’s much easier to nose in and then back out to leave.
Yeah I fully expect to hear about fights breaking out over charging spaces until the cables get longer
You can’t just add a length of cable to a 500 amp liquid-cooled charger. Well maybe technically you could contrive an elephant trunk of absurdly insulated wiring using a small fortune in copper if you were really determined.
Keep in mind this adapter only works with Tesla v3 chargers, the v1 and v2 use a proprietary protocol that only communicates with Teslas.
The new V4 chargers have longer cables and built-in CCS adapters.
Didn’t realize the typical Supercharger cable is liquid cooled — I thought it was just the newer ones (v4?) that were that way — and those are practically nonexistent.
I think you are right now that I read up more. I get them confused, I have a Ford EV and am trying to figure out what the deal is. There is a V4 install near me and talked to the technician and he told me about the liquid cooling. I assumed it was the same for V3.
Not sure, but I think the v4 chargers have longer cables, in any event. (But I keep an eye on the Supercharger rollout at the supercharge.info website, and it looks like there’re mainly ongoing installations of v3 chargers — so, if you have v4 near you, it’s something rare!)
While the transition from CCS/J1772/etc to purely NACS will take a few years, and there will be growing pains, having one unified, country wide universal charging standard will do far more for EV adoption and usability than a 20% bump in range will for a vast majority of people.
This is like having half your gas stations in the country only having Diesel, or gas, but not both, and half of all cars being one or the other. I’m not ready for EV ownership quite yet, but this is awfully exciting for the future. My only hope now is that PHEVs all start to adopt NACS too, would be great to be able to get both gas and a charge at the same time on a road trip all at once.
I know you meant the diesel-only-at-a-few-stations thing as an example, but that was legitimately why I didn’t get a VW Golf Sportwagen diesel (pre-Dieselgate): only a few stations in my city had it, and I didn’t like the idea of having to go so far out of the way to fill up.
Really no reason to fill up on electrons on a road trip in a PHEV. Most are not as efficient vs running on the gas engine at steady state highway speeds.
I am happy that it is rolling out, but I expect to see some very hostile standoffs between Tesla drivers and the “others” at my local Target charging bank.