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Ford shows its awesome Vehicle-to-Vehicle Charging with F-150 Lightning

Aftermarket equipment shown. Ford E-Transit available early 2022. Preproduction Ford F-150 Lightning with optional equipment shown. Available starting spring 2022

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Thanks to Ford’s Pro Power Onboard system, the 2022 F-150 Lightning, the all-electric version of the United States’ best-selling pickup truck, owners will now have the ability to share range with other EVs.

The feature is exclusive to the Ford F-150 Lightning and F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid, which both equip Pro Power Onboard. The feature essentially turns the vehicles into mobile charging stations for other EVs, as the onboard generators and high-capacity battery systems holding the charge can now give other cars additional range by simply plugging into the host vehicle. It’s not just exclusive for Ford, either, as the company stated in a press release announcing the feature that electric vehicles built by other manufacturers would also benefit from the feature.

The process is simple: Connect to an F-150 Lightning or F-150 PowerBoost Hybrid with the optional 9.6 or 7.2 kilowatt Pro Power Onboard feature. By using Ford’s Mobile Power Cord, the vehicle can deliver a Level-2 charging rate that will add an estimated 20 miles of range per hour. This figure was obtained by testing the feature with the Mustang Mach-E, Ford says. The Mach-E that was used to assess the performance of Pro Power Onboard equipped an extended-range battery and rear-wheel-drive. When using the feature with an F-150 Lightning, 13 miles of range was added. 10 additional miles were recorded in an hour with the Ford E-Transit low-roof cargo van. While this doesn’t sound like much, EV charging stations are becoming more available with every passing day. Even a quick charge of 45 minutes would likely get most people with completely depleted vehicles enough range to make it to their closest charging station.

Ford details more about the process for charging vehicles with Pro Power Onboard:

“Customers can easily take advantage of this capability, using a widely available power adaptor to link the Ford Mobile Power Cord to their truck. Once connected to the 240-volt Pro Power Onboard outlet, customers can use the Mobile Power Cord to charge a range of all-electric vehicles that use the SAE J1772 charge port. This includes the Ford Mustang Mach-E, the Ford E-Transit electric van and the all-new 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup, as well as vehicles from other manufacturers.”

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Ford F-150 Lightning unveiled: Price, Release date, Range, Features and more

The F-150 Lightning’s versatility as a power source opens the door for the vehicle to do more than just give owners a sustainable pickup. Ford’s Intelligent Backup Power could also be used to bring lights back on inside a home, essentially acting as an energy storage device.

“There are so many new opportunities to innovate with features and functions made possible only through electrification,” Patrick Soderborg, Ford E-Powertrain Systems Engineer, said. “This really hit home during the Texas power crisis last February, which left millions in the cold. F-150 Hybrid helped many Texans keep warm and powered up during those difficult times thanks to Pro Power Onboard – and we’re trying to do even more with F-150 Lightning.”

I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Elon Musk

Tesla begins expanding Robotaxi access: here’s how you can ride

You can ride in a Tesla Robotaxi by heading to its website and filling out the interest form. The company is hand-picking some of those who have done this to gain access to the fleet.

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Credit: @HanChulYong/X

Tesla has begun expanding Robotaxi access beyond the initial small group it offered rides to in late June, as it launched the driverless platform in Austin, Texas.

The small group of people enjoying the Robotaxi ride-hailing service is now growing, as several Austin-area residents are receiving invitations to test out the platform for themselves.

The first rides took place on June 22, and despite a very small number of very manageable and expected hiccups, Tesla Robotaxi was widely successful with its launch.

Tesla Robotaxi riders tout ‘smooth’ experience in first reviews of driverless service launch

However, Tesla is expanding the availability of the ride-hailing service to those living in Austin and its surrounding areas, hoping to gather more data and provide access to those who will utilize it on a daily basis.

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Many of the people Tesla initially invited, including us, are not local to the Austin area.

There are a handful of people who are, but Tesla was evidently looking for more stable data collection, as many of those early invitees headed back to where they live.

The first handful of invitations in the second round of the Robotaxi platform’s Early Access Program are heading out to Austin locals:

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Tesla likely saw an influx of data during the first week, as many traveled far and wide to say they were among the first to test the Robotaxi platform.

Now that the first week and a half of testing is over, Tesla is expanding invites to others. Many of those who have been chosen to gain access to the Robotaxi app and the ride-hailing service state that they simply filled out the interest form on the Robotaxi page of Tesla’s website.

That’s the easiest way you will also gain access, so be sure to fill out that form if you have any interest in riding in Robotaxi.

Tesla will continue to utilize data accumulated from these rides to enable more progress, and eventually, it will lead to even more people being able to hail rides from the driverless platform.

With more success, Tesla will start to phase out some of the Safety Monitors and Supervisors it is using to ensure things run smoothly. CEO Elon Musk said Tesla could start increasing the number of Robotaxis to monitors within the next couple of months.

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Tesla analyst issues stern warning to investors: forget Trump-Musk feud

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Credit: Tesla

A Tesla analyst today said that investors should not lose sight of what is truly important in the grand scheme of being a shareholder, and that any near-term drama between CEO Elon Musk and U.S. President Donald Trump should not outshine the progress made by the company.

Gene Munster of Deepwater Management said that Tesla’s progress in autonomy is a much larger influence and a significantly bigger part of the company’s story than any disagreement between political policies.

Munster appeared on CNBC‘s “Closing Bell” yesterday to reiterate this point:

“One thing that is critical for Tesla investors to remember is that what’s going on with the business, with autonomy, the progress that they’re making, albeit early, is much bigger than any feud that is going to happen week-to-week between the President and Elon. So, I understand the reaction, but ultimately, I think that cooler heads will prevail. If they don’t, autonomy is still coming, one way or the other.”

This is a point that other analysts like Dan Ives of Wedbush and Cathie Wood of ARK Invest also made yesterday.

On two occasions over the past month, Musk and President Trump have gotten involved in a very public disagreement over the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which officially passed through the Senate yesterday and is making its way to the House of Representatives.

Tesla analysts believe Musk and Trump feud will pass

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Musk is upset with the spending in the bill, while President Trump continues to reiterate that the Tesla CEO is only frustrated with the removal of an “EV mandate,” which does not exist federally, nor is it something Musk has expressed any frustration with.

In fact, Musk has pushed back against keeping federal subsidies for EVs, as long as gas and oil subsidies are also removed.

Nevertheless, Ives and Wood both said yesterday that they believe the political hardship between Musk and President Trump will pass because both realize the world is a better place with them on the same team.

Munster’s perspective is that, even though Musk’s feud with President Trump could apply near-term pressure to the stock, the company’s progress in autonomy is an indication that, in the long term, Tesla is set up to succeed.

Tesla launched its Robotaxi platform in Austin on June 22 and is expanding access to more members of the public. Austin residents are now reporting that they have been invited to join the program.

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Tesla surges following better-than-expected delivery report

Tesla saw some positive momentum during trading hours as it reported its deliveries for Q2.

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) surged over four percent on Wednesday morning after the company reported better-than-expected deliveries. It was nearly right on consensus estimations, as Wall Street predicted the company would deliver 385,000 cars in Q2.

Tesla reported that it delivered 384,122 vehicles in Q2. Many, including those inside the Tesla community, were anticipating deliveries in the 340,000 to 360,000 range, while Wall Street seemed to get it just right.

Tesla delivers 384,000 vehicles in Q2 2025, deploys 9.6 GWh in energy storage

Despite Tesla meeting consensus estimations, there were real concerns about what the company would report for Q2.

There were reportedly brief pauses in production at Gigafactory Texas during the quarter and the ramp of the new Model Y configuration across the globe were expected to provide headwinds for the EV maker during the quarter.

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At noon on the East Coast, Tesla shares were up about 4.5 percent.

It is expected that Tesla will likely equal the number of deliveries it completed in both of the past two years.

It has hovered at the 1.8 million mark since 2023, and it seems it is right on pace to match that once again. Early last year, Tesla said that annual growth would be “notably lower” than expected due to its development of a new vehicle platform, which will enable more affordable models to be offered to the public.

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These cars are expected to be unveiled at some point this year, as Tesla said they were “on track” to be produced in the first half of the year. Tesla has yet to unveil these vehicle designs to the public.

Dan Ives of Wedbush said in a note to investors this morning that the company’s rebound in China in June reflects good things to come, especially given the Model Y and its ramp across the world.

He also said that Musk’s commitment to the company and return from politics played a major role in the company’s performance in Q2:

“If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”

Ives maintained his $500 price target and the ‘Outperform’ rating he held on the stock:

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“Tesla’s future is in many ways the brightest it’s ever been in our view given autonomous, FSD, robotics, and many other technology innovations now on the horizon with 90% of the valuation being driven by autonomous and robotics over the coming years but Musk needs to focus on driving Tesla and not putting his political views first. We maintain our OUTPERFORM and $500 PT.”

Moving forward, investors will look to see some gradual growth over the next few quarters. At worst, Tesla should look to match 2023 and 2024 full-year delivery figures, which could be beaten if the automaker can offer those affordable models by the end of the year.

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