Mustang in place of Tesla. Can you do it, Musk?

Shares of Ford and electric car maker Tesla rose nearly 7% on Friday, May 26, on the U.S. stock market, a day after the U.S. automaker struck a deal with Elon Musk’s company that will allow owners of its models. electricity to use Tesla’s network of 12,000 fastest charging points in North America.

The partnership — announced by Ford CEO Jim Farley and Tesla CEO in a live broadcast on Twitter — made an impact for two reasons.

First, by fueling the debate in the automotive industry about the need to adopt a single charging standard for electric vehicles (EV), of which Tesla’s Supercharger is considered the best and has the most widespread network.

The second reason is that the agreement caused several industry analysts to ponder whether the partnership was not a shot in the foot of Musk, as it removes from Tesla the competitive advantage of maintaining the exclusivity of the best charger on the market, which has always been the case. contributed to the sale of branded vehicles.

From now on, nothing prevents the owner from exchanging his Tesla for the Ford Mustang, a modern electric model of the traditional American automaker, whose “muscle car” brand has always been considered a consumer dream for Americans.

The availability of mobile charging in cities and on roads is seen as important in accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles. And Tesla has the largest network of chargers, which serve only the brand’s electric vehicles.

Thus, the battle over charging connectors for electric vehicles is reminiscent of the video technology conflict between VHS vs. Betamax, appeared one generation ago.

Most electronics use a style of port called the Combined Charging Standard. Tesla has created another one, which it calls the North American Charging Standard.

One refill pattern

Tesla has been at the forefront of this market since 2012, when it developed and distributed its fast car charger across the US and Canada. With just 15 minutes of recharging using the Supercharger, the brand’s electric vehicles have a range of 322 miles or 518 km.

While most owners charge their electric cars at home, Tesla’s advantage is undeniable. Owners of non-Musk electric cars must use public chargers, which can be hard to find, slow and prone to reliability issues.

Current Ford electric vehicles will need a special adapter to connect to Tesla charging plugs, but next-generation Ford EVs will come with a Tesla-style port.

The White House announced in February this year that Tesla agreed to make part of its payment network available to drivers of other brands. On Thursday, Tesla’s CEO said the move would ensure Ford is on “equal footing” with Tesla.

“We don’t want the Tesla Supercharger network to be like a walled garden,” Musk said. “We want it to be something that supports electricity supply and sustainable transport in general,” he added. The owner of Tesla has never hidden that his main goal is in the development of the autonomous car, and not in the electric car market.

If the Supercharger is adopted across the industry, Tesla should make money in the charging space. But several brand owners complained on Twitter – bought by Musk months ago – of having to share recharge points with “strangers”.

Others said they chose Tesla precisely because of the fast charging advantage and would only consider buying an EV from another automaker if they could get access to Tesla’s network or a similarly reliable network. In many publications, in a provocative tone, the Mustang was mentioned as the future car for these Tesla EV owners.