Ford CEO Jim Farley said today that consumers are not committing to electric vehicles because they have anxiety, and it is not range anxiety.
“They don’t have range anxiety, they have charging anxiety,” Farley said on Fox Business. “We’re going into the mass consumers who have a lot of charging anxiety.”
The comments came in response to Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm’s recent four-day, 600-mile journey from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Memphis, Tennessee, with a fleet of legacy automaker electric vehicles.
Granholm’s trip was far from smooth, as the Secretary had several bumps in the road related to charging. At one point, ICE vehicles that were in communication with the Secretary’s fleet of cars were tasked with parking at EV chargers in an inadvertent instance of ICEing — a term used for when combustion engine vehicles park at and block EV chargers.
This caused a family who needed a charge to keep their car cool as a baby was occupying it to lose their cool, both figuratively and literally, and they called the police.
You can read our full report on that below:
For Ford and Farley, solving “charging anxiety” is the next step for breaking through the current number of sales it has and entering a new market. Farley admits that EVs, at least from Ford’s perspective, are currently for a niche of customers.
He talked about EVs and the premium price they have, which has discouraged many consumers from considering buying one. Although prices have dropped from a year ago, as Farley mentioned in the interview with Fox’s Bret Baier, there is still a new batch of consumers that need the wide array of concerns to be obliterated before they switch.
“Some customers who have the right duty cycle are really interested, but the price premium that we see a year ago is not there today,” Farley said.
One way Ford has chosen to combat this “charging anxiety” is by partnering with Tesla and vowing to use the automaker’s North American Charging Standard, or NACS, connector, which will give Ford EV drivers access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in the United States.
It seems Ford won’t be ready to completely phase out ICE vehicles as Farley also said consumers will have a choice of what they want and need in a vehicle.
“We’re going to offer customers a choice. We’re going to have a growth story for all three of our businesses, including our pro-business, and we’ll have the customer choose,” he said. “The F-150 Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup in the U.S. and for those customers, it works great, but it’s not for everyone.”
Ford recently tripled its production capacity for the F-150 Lightning, which has been the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S.
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Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk estimates Tesla Semi could reach Europe next year
“We’ve got the Tesla Semi coming out, the heavy truck, and that’ll be going to Europe hopefully next year,” Musk said.
Tesla is preparing to expand its all-electric Semi truck program to Europe, with CEO Elon Musk indicating that the Class 8 vehicle could arrive in the region 2027.
Musk shared his update during an interview about Giga Berlin with plant manager André Thierig, which was posted on X by the official Tesla Manufacturing account.
“We’ve got the Tesla Semi coming out, the heavy truck, and that’ll be going to Europe hopefully next year,” he said.
Tesla has already begun limited production and customer deployments of the Tesla Semi in the United States, with the company working to scale output through the Semi factory near Giga Nevada. Considering Musk’s comments, it appears that a European rollout would be the next phase of the vehicle’s expansion beyond North America.
Musk’s use of the word “hopefully” leaves room for flexibility, but the remark signals that Europe is next in Tesla’s commercial expansion plans.
Musk has consistently argued that electrification should extend beyond passenger vehicles. During the same interview, he reiterated his view that “all ground transport should be electric,” adding that ships, and eventually aircraft, would follow.
The Semi plays a central role in that strategy. Heavy-duty freight remains one of the most emissions-intensive segments of road transport, and European regulators have increasingly pushed for lower-emission commercial fleets.
Tesla recently refreshed the Semi lineup on its official website, listing two variants: Standard and Long Range. The Standard trim offers up to 325 miles of range with an energy consumption rating of 1.7 kWh per mile, while the Long Range version provides up to 500 miles, which should be more than ample for European routes.
Elon Musk
Tesla Cybercab coming next to Giga Berlin, Optimus possibly after
“From a next major product standpoint, I think most likely is the Tesla Cybercab,” Musk said.
Tesla could add the Cybercab and Optimus humanoid robot to the production lineup at Giga Berlin, as per recent comments from CEO Elon Musk.
During a recent interview with Giga Berlin plant manager André Thierig, Musk identified the Cybercab as the most likely next major product for the German factory, with Optimus potentially following after.
“From a next major product standpoint, I think most likely is the Tesla Cybercab,” Musk said. He added that there are also “possibilities of Tesla Optimus” being produced in the facility.
Tesla has already begun production of the Cybercab in Giga Texas, with volume production expected to ramp this year. Based on Musk’s comments, it appears that if conditions align in Europe, Giga Berlin could eventually join that effort.
The CEO’s comments about Optimus coming to Gigafactory Berlin are quite unsurprising too considering that Musk has mentioned in the past that the humanoid robot will likely be Tesla’s highest volume product in the long run.
Giga Berlin will likely be able to produce mass volumes of Optimus, as the Model S and Model X lines being converted to an Optimus line in the Fremont Factory are already expected to produce 1 million units of the humanoid robot annually.
Apart from his comments about the Cybercab and Optimus, Elon Musk also confirmed that Giga Berlin has started ramping battery cell production and will continue expanding Model Y output, particularly as supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) gains regulatory approvals in Europe.
Taken together, the remarks suggest Berlin’s role could evolve beyond vehicle assembly into a broader multi-product manufacturing hub, not just a regional Model Y plant.
Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Elon Musk estimates Tesla Semi could reach Europe next year
