Ford Motor Company has expanded its commercial charging infrastructure with an end-to-end solution to help commercial fleets transition from gas- and diesel-powered engines to electric.
Called series 2 AC charging station 80 amp, the expanded DC fast chargers provide management software and other features to simplify electrified electric vehicle (EV) charging for both Ford and non-Ford EVs. Some of the features include:
- 180 kW and 240 kW charging speeds
- RFID security
- Improved cable and connectors
- Cellular pre-configured connectivity
- Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity
- ISO-15118 ready
- Over-the-air updates
- LCD screen for instructions
- Temperature sensors
- Temperature range of -40° C to 50° C
Ford has been quickly expanding its EV charging infrastructure for both its commercial and consumer drivers. The company formed an agreement with Tesla Motors to integrate its North American Charging Standard (NACS) across the U.S. and Canada. This will allow access to 12,000 supercharge stations for Ford drivers, doubling the number of fast chargers to the Ford consumer fleet starting in 2024.
EV charging stations are rapidly under construction globally with new infrastructure coming to hotels, grocery stores, malls, businesses, coffee shops and much more. However, the U.S. alone will need 1.7 million EV charging stations by 2030 due to consumer sentiment rising for these vehicles and government mandates, according to Fuels Institute.
This expansion is needed, according to J.D. Power, given that EV charging infrastructure has not kept pace with the expansion of EVs by automotive OEMs. And things might be getting worse as overall satisfaction of EV charging stations is very low.