Ford is offering its own Tesla Supercharger adapter to EV customers after rocky rollout

Ford is making its own branded specialty adapter to enable Tesla Supercharger access for its EV customers. The automaker will offer its new adapter alongside the current Tesla-produced one for customers still awaiting a complementary adapter and will start shipping it today.

The adapters are being manufactured by EV equipment supply company Lectron, which has already made its own “Vortex” NACS to CCS adapters. Lectron had to recall its adapters previously due to a design flaw where it could unlatch while charging.

Lectron’s CEO Christopher Maiwald said in a State of Charge interview that the problem had been fixed. In an email to The Verge, PR representative for Ford Eddie Fernandez wrote that the new adapters are not connected to the ones Ford asked customers to stop using. “The noted replacement adapters affected as part of that customer satisfaction program were a small portion of the overall supply,” Fernandez said.

Tesla has been slow to make enough of the adapters for distribution to automakers who have pledged to adopt NACS as the EV connector standard (also known as SAE J3400). Meanwhile, Ford has found slow charging issues with some of the current adapters it has circulated to customers and has asked some people to stop using them and await a replacement.

Ford is the first of the automakers to give EV customers access to Tesla’s vast Supercharger network and provide the NACS to CCS adapters for free, followed by Rivian. Most recently, Volvo and Polestar started selling adapters to its customers for $230. GM also went the non-complementary route and is selling its adapter for $225.

Ford recently launched its Power Promise campaign to help EV “fence-sitters” adapt to the lifestyle, offering a free home charger with standard installation.