It only makes sense that any electric vehicle would be able to use any charging station. As Tesla is the first to dot the earth with it’s charging stations, they have the first say about how it is done. If you own a Ford F-150 Lightning, can you charge it in any Tesla charging station?
At this time, Ford F-150 Lightning trucks can’t be charged at Tesla charging stations in the United States, they are only available to Tesla vehicles. There is a pilot program that was launched in November of 2021 for all electric vehicles to be able to charge at Tesla Charging Stations, but this program is currently only available in The Netherlands, France, Norway, Germany and Belgium.
Tesla has its proprietary charging connector at Tesla Charging Stations which only works on Tesla vehicles. Although they do provide an adapter to use other chargers but not the other way. Ford F-150 Lightning, just like other electric vehicles in the North America uses the standard SAE J1772 connector, so as you can see in the image below they are significantly different. Even it you find an adapter, the Tesla Charging stations require you to connect your vehicle through the Tesla app to be able to initiate the charge process which is not available at this time.
Ford F-150 Lightning Charging Connector Type
The charging connector that the Ford F-150 Lightning uses is the industry standard/universal SAE J1772 connector, also called J Plug. It is compatible with most electric vehicles. Tesla can also use this connector with the standard issue adapter that all Tesla owners receive. All the electric vehicle manufacturers agreed to use this connector to standardize and simplify the future of charging vehicles.
The J1772 plug can accommodate charging rates from 12 amps @ 120V to 80 amps @ 240V. It was approved and adapted in 2012 by the SAE Motor Vehicle Council and supported by electric vehicle manufacturers like Smart, Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Rivian, and Tesla. It was first used in the early electric Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf.
Today virtually every auto maker (Audi, Bentley, BMW, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Mercedes, MINI, Porsche, Rolls Royce, smart, Volkswagen, Volvo, General Motors, Land Rover) has agreed to use this standard connector on their electric vehicles.
Some charging stations across North America have a J1772 combo connector that includes the Fast Charge DC connector below the normal one to allow the choice to select a fast charge option. This makes the charging stations more convenient for the drivers and makes those stations more appealing to the drivers.
Tesla Charging Connector Type
Although Tesla supported the use of the J1772 connector after it was adopted by the SAE Motor Vehicle Council in 2012, they decided to create their own proprietary connector so only Teslas would be able to use their chargers. In order to comply with the standard, each Tesla also gets an adapter that takes you from the Tesla connector to the J1772 connector. There are no adapters to reverse it to go from J1772 to Tesla plug, officially. i’m sure someone somewhere spliced one together to try to hack the Tesla Superchargers. Just joking…
Is Tesla keeping all that power to themselves? It doesn’t look like it. They are looking to the future as the pioneers and leaders of the electric vehicle revolution. To achieve that they need to share their chargers with the world. It may take a bit for that to become a reality but for now, Walmart chargers it is.
Tesla’s Non-Tesla Supercharger pilot program started in November of 2021 as an effort to “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy”. With over 30,000 stations across the world, Tesla is in the best position to “charge” the world’s first step into main stream electric vehicle use. They started the pilot program in just a few places to review the experience, congestion and get feedback from users before they begin expanding to the rest of their stations.
Where Do You Charge The Ford F-150 Lightning?
There are over 52,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country where the Ford Lightning can be charged. They are all compatible with the standard J1772 charging connector which is compatible with pretty much all the electric vehicles on the market today.
Some of these charging stations are stand alone like a normal gas station which charge fees for using their station, others are located as an option that a local business decided to add to their store or office to entice EV owners to stop by their business while they get a free charge.
From the looks of the dots on this map, looks like anywhere you go on a road trip there is a charging station waiting for you. There are many apps available that will direct you right to the charging station nearest to you.
Just using the Google Maps app on my phone and searching for “electric vehicle charging station near me” gave me hundreds of options within the 20 mile radius. So finding where to charge is not a concern as long as you are in the populated areas. When you go off road of into the mountains, you may want to take your generator with you and recharge using a generator.
How long Does It Take To Charge The Ford F-150 Lightning?
There are four options when it comes to charging the Ford F-150 Lightning. From an included charging unit that doesn’t cost anything extra to a fast charging station you can install in your garage.
The fastest option is a Fast DC Charger which is 150 kW and is capable of going from 20% to 80% in about 40 minutes. This one is not something you can buy and own but is available at Fast Charging stations across the country. You would need to drive to it to take advantage of the fast charge.
Next option uses 80-amp Home Charging Station uses 240 volt connection to power the charger which is capable of charging up the truck in about 8 hours and charges at about 35 miles per hour of charging. This is a hard wired charger that is installed on your wall and a 240-volt line ran directly into the unit. This option costs $1310 at the time of this writing.
The cheaper version of the charger is a 45-amp Home Charging Station that is powered with 240 volt connection and will take about 10 hours to charge up, but because it is one of the healthiest charging options it gives you more miles per hour at 28 miles per hour of charging. This charger can be purchased for $799 at the time of this writing.
And the most basic charging option is the charging unit that comes with the truck when you buy it. Well actually there are 2 version of it, a 120V version and a 240V version. Having said that, the 120V version is a non starter right off the bat. The estimate for it is that it will take 95 hours to charge the truck to 100% and will only give you 3 miles per hour of charging… Why is this even available?
The more obvious, the 240V charging unit also plugs into a standard 240V outlet which is like what your stove or clothes dryer plugs into and takes about 15 hours to go to 100% and gives you 20 miles per hour of charging.
Valik loves tinkering in the garage and is currently restoring a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 truck. He also writes about the progress on this blog. When not in the garage, Valik is also a web developer and a blogger. I know, strange, a hand in two completely different worlds. And that is the way he likes to keep it.
I recently purchased a Ford Lightning and I am trying to understand all the charging variables. At 80A 240V I get 19.2kw. I understand this to mean in 1 hour, I put 19.2kwh into a battery that is capable of 131kwh. In a perfect world, that would take just under 7 hours to completely charge, however I am aware that the last 20 percent charges slower. Is this where we end up with 8 hours? At 2.2kwh per mile, the math then works pretty well to about 35 miles for each hour charged.
Why would the 48A charger only add 2 hours to the charging duration? I would expect it to be 12 hours plus the slower charge time to bring it from 80% to 100%
Lastly, I am looking at buying a Tesla to J1772 adapter so I can charge my F150 at Tesla charging stations. How does the adapter determine the amperage draw? Is it invoking different pins? I see adapters that are rated at 80A, 50A, 48A. Or is it the charging station that determines the Amperage and you just need an adapter that can work with that amperage? Thanks!