Is Ford trolling Tesla? Farley says 'just helpful'

Ford Motor Co.’s electric F-150 Lightning pickups are poised to come to the rescue of any Tesla drivers in need of a jolt.

Initial owners of the model that beat the Cybertruck to market have shared images online of an adapter that came with their pickup enabling them to charge Teslas, which use plugs distinct from the rest of the auto industry.

When an EV enthusiast blog wrote this week that Ford appeared to be trolling its rival, CEO Jim Farley assured his Twitter followers that the automaker means well.

Ford has made the F-150 Lightning’s bi-directional charging capability a key selling point of the pickup, emphasizing use cases for customers who’d like to use their truck as a backup generator at worksites or for their home.

Enabling EVs to both take and provide a charge has the potential to help utilities manage peaks in demand and even allow their owners to sell electricity back to the grid.

Tesla owners may not need the help.

The carmaker boasts the second-largest US public charging network, with 19 percent of all connectors, and dominates the fast- and ultra-fast segments, with more than half of those connectors in the country, according to BloombergNEF estimates. Drew Baglino, Tesla’s senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, said in October that the company planned to triple the size of its supercharger network over the next two years.

Of course, Fords have already come to Tesla owners’ aid in another way. Ford Transit vans are among the models Tesla uses as mobile service vehicles.