GM’s Electric Vehicles Will Use Tesla’s Charging Network

GM’s Electric Vehicles Will Use Tesla’s Charging Network - The New York Times

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Tesla Will Open Its Charging Network to G.M.’s Electric Vehicles

The electric car company, which operates the country’s most extensive charging network, struck a similar deal with Ford Motor recently.

Jack Ewing has covered the auto industry for more than a decade.

General Motors on Thursday said it had reached a deal that would allow its electric vehicles to use Tesla’s extensive charging network. G.M. also said its future battery-powered models would use the charging plug standard pioneered by Tesla.

The announcement, which came two weeks after Ford struck a comparable agreement, is likely to make Tesla’s technology the industry standard and squeeze companies that are racing to build similar networks as sales of electric vehicles surge.

The battle between Tesla’s charging plugs and the ones currently used by Ford, G.M. and the other automakers recalls the competition between Betamax and VHS video cassettes in the 1980s. VHS ultimately won the battle and Betamax equipment became obsolete.

The chief executive of G.M., Mary T. Barra, made the announcement during a streamed Twitter conversation with Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla. Both described the deal as positive for consumers.

“This is going to be a fundamentally great thing for the advancement of E.V. adoption,” Mr. Musk said, adding that he would ensure that Tesla would not use its control of the nation’s largest charging network to disadvantage competitors.

Investors welcomed the deal. The share prices of Tesla and G.M. were up about 3 percent in extended trading on Thursday.

Jack Ewing writes about business from New York, focusing on the auto industry and the transition to electric cars. He spent much of his career in Europe and is the author of “Faster, Higher, Farther," about the Volkswagen emissions scandal. @JackEwingNYT•

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