Yesterday Electrify America announced a partnership with Ford Motor Company to provide Ford’s future electric vehicle owners with access to their ultra-fast public charging network. Electric Canada has plans to build up to 32 charging stations by 2021, including 20 at select Canadian Tire locations across Canada.
Ford owners will be able to manage their charging plan through features of the company’s FordPass app, as well as through their vehicle’s touch screen, that will be supported by a comprehensive data feed from Electrify America. By referencing a charging plan, that may indicate that future Ford EV owners will have limited charging plans (e.g., 50kWh per month), but there has been no confirmation of this.
Ford hopes to release its all-new, Mustang-inspired electric SUV in 2020. No official numbers have been released as it is still under development, but Ford aims to achieve a range of 482km, one km less than the estimated range of the Model Y.
While this announcement sounds good on the surface for the future of EV charging, Ford and Electrify America aren’t agreeing to build any new charging stations. Rather, they are simply announcing a partnership where Ford owners will have access to their network. Any by the sounds of things (“charging plan”), it may come at a cost.
