Electric vehicles made by General Motors will be able to use much of Tesla's extensive network of charging stations starting next year, according to the agreement announced by the two automakers on Thursday.
In addition, GM will adopt Tesla's connector, the plug that connects an electric car to a charging station.
GM joins Ford in changes to its electric vehicles to work with about 12,000 of Tesla's roughly 17,000 chargers. In addition, the two Detroit automakers are pushing to make Tesla's connector the industry standard.
GM CEO Mary Barra and her Tesla counterpart Elon Musk made the announcement during a conversation on Twitter Spaces.
It comes two weeks after Ford CEO Jim Farley joined Musk in announcing that his firm's electric cars will have access to much of Tesla's charging network, the largest in the country. Farley also indicated that his vehicles will incorporate the Tesla connector instead of continuing with the one used by the rest of the sector.
Initially, owners of electric cars from GM and Ford will need an adapter to connect to Tesla's network. But the companies will start incorporating Tesla's North American standard connector into vehicles produced in 2025.
Tesla has about 17,000 Supercharger stations in the US According to the Department of Energy, there are about 54,000 public charging stations nationwide, but many are significantly slower than Tesla's.
“Like Ford, we see this as an opportunity to expand access to charging,” Barra said, adding that GM hopes the rest of the industry will adopt Tesla's connector, which is different from the CCS connector used in most cars. all other electric vehicles.
