Topline
Shares of Ford and Tesla rallied Friday after the companies announced Ford electric vehicle owners can now plug in their car in one of Tesla’s 12,000 fast charging stations nationwide, a rare partnership between the legacy automaker and its younger but vastly more valuable peer.
A Ford Explorer Hybrid SUV on display at an auto show in 2020.
Key Facts
Ford’s stock spiked 7.4% by early afternoon, set for its largest daily gain since October as investors digested the news first shared by Ford CEO Jim Farley during a Twitter Spaces conversation Thursday with Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
Tesla shares rose 6% on Friday as the expansion presents a new source of revenue (the companies did not say Thursday how much Ford owners will pay to use Tesla’s chargers).
Tesla’s services division, which includes revenue from its charger fees, brought in $1.8 billion during the first three months of 2023, accounting for 8% of total sales and rising 44% year-over-year.
Tangent
Though Musk said Ford is now on “equal footing” in the EV arms race thanks to the new partnership, Ford still has significant ground to make up: Ford sold about 11,000 electric cars domestically during the first three months of this year, a tiny fraction of Tesla’s more than 160,000 EVs sold and making it just the fifth best-selling EV brand in the country.
Key Background
When Tesla first went public in 2010, its market capitalization was about $2 billion, compared to Ford’s roughly $35 billion valuation at the time. Now, Tesla is the ninth-biggest company in the world with a $615 billion market cap, dwarfing Ford’s $49 billion valuation. Ford’s roughly 13% market share in the U.S. trumps Tesla’s 4% share, but its financials are far weaker compared to Tesla’s, as Musk’s company turned a $12.6 billion profit in 2022 while Ford lost nearly $2 billion.
Surprising Fact
Tesla added $45 billion in market value Friday, nearly matching Ford’s total market cap.
Further Reading
Ford’s EV Customers Getting Access To Tesla Charging Network In 2024 (Forbes)
