Ford will join Tesla’s vast network of 12,000 Supercharger fast-charging stations. Early next year, it will offer an adapter that will allow Ford drivers to connect Tesla’s charging cables to their cars. Beginning in 2025, the company’s EVs will be manufactured with Tesla’s charging port.
Why it matters: The growing embrace of Tesla’s network could transform the public charging experience for EV drivers, who will gain access to Supercharger stations throughout North America. It is meant to catalyze EV adoption by providing a simpler, more expansive, and more reliable experience than those offered by notoriously unreliable third-party networks.
The backstory: Two weeks later, General Motors CEO Mary Barra held her own Twitter Space with Musk to reveal that GM would join the network by offering adapters, to be followed by adopting its ports. Rivian and Volvo recently said the same.
What's next: The decision by two of the Big Three automakers to adopt Tesla’s standard will essentially double the number of places where customers can fill up. On Tuesday, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced it will collaborate with the Society for Automotive Engineers to conduct an expedited review of NACS as a potential “public standard.”
Ford CEO Jim Farley was driving his family back from vacation in Lake Tahoe last summer when he recognized something most EV owners know well: Public charging can be a headache.
On the 300-mile trip to Monterey, California, it wasn’t easy to find places to plug in his Ford Mustang Mach-E. His children had no problem, however, spotting the numerous Tesla Supercharger stations along the way.
“My kids kept looking at me, ‘Hey Dad, there’s another Supercharger, can we stop there? How about there?’” Farley recounted in a conversation on Twitter Spaces in May. “I’d say, ‘No, we have to go over here, behind this other building.’”
Farley said that was when he realized Tesla had done far better than any other charging network in creating an easy, dependable, and accessible customer experience. So easy, in fact, that he wanted Ford customers to be able to access it, too.
Farley was on Twitter to make an unprecedented announcement with Tesla CEO Elon Musk: Ford will join Tesla’s vast network of 12,000 Supercharger fast-charging stations. Early next year, it will offer an adapter that will allow Ford drivers to connect Tesla’s charging cables to their cars. Beginning in 2025, the company’s EVs will be manufactured with Tesla’s charging port.
“It was shocking,” said Loren McDonald, who runs the analytics firm EVAdoption, adding that Farley was sending a clear message. “He had absolutely no confidence that the charging networks could get their act together. Or why would you join with your competitor?”
Beginning next year, Ford EVs like this Mustang Mach-E will be able to connect to Tesla Superchargers using an adapter.
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Courtesy of Ford Motor Company
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The once unimaginable decision set off a cascade of echoing announcements. Two weeks later, General Motors CEO Mary Barra held her own Twitter Space with Musk to reveal that GM would join the network by offering adapters, to be followed by adopting its ports. Rivian and Volvo recently said the same.
The growing embrace of Tesla’s network could transform the public charging experience for EV drivers, who will gain access to Supercharger stations throughout North America. It is meant to catalyze EV adoption by providing a simpler, more expansive, and more reliable experience than those offered by notoriously unreliable third-party networks. And it suddenly increased the likelihood that the U.S. could one day see a single charging standard rather than the patchwork of systems that frustrate current EV drivers and could scare off potential ones.
While the announcements surprised many, in some ways they were inevitable. Tesla began building its proprietary global charging network over a decade ago, just as the company introduced its first sedan, the Model S.
“Tesla understood that in order for them to sell a lot of EVs, they had to take it upon themselves to build out the infrastructure,” said McDonald.
Perhaps presumptuously, Tesla named its system the North American Charging Standard, or NACS. In actuality, it is far from the standard. There are three EV fast-charging cable configurations in the U.S. CHAdeMO connectors are used almost exclusively by the Nissan Leaf, while most other EVs use the Combined Charging System, or CCS. Each has a different shape, and they are not interchangeable.
No other automaker built a network like Tesla’s, leaving most EV drivers dependent upon third-party networks like EVgo, Chargepoint, and Electrify America for their public charging needs. Drivers often encounter broken chargers and long wait times, if they can find a fast charger at all.
In a 2022 survey by the consumer advocacy group Plug In America, one-quarter of non-Tesla EV drivers said broken chargers or sparse locations were a “major difficulty” or “deal breaker” to using some of the biggest fast-charging networks. Only 2-3% of Tesla drivers said that of their network.
Customer frustration is catching up with legacy automakers and third-party charging networks, said Matt Teske, CEO of Chargeway, a mobile app designed to help users find and utilize charging stations.
“Everyone else was saying, ‘We build cars in a silo, you build chargers in a silo, but hopefully we make those things connect somehow,’” said Teske. That is, until the automakers saw that the two weren’t connecting. “They finally realized that the business model used by many third-party networks doesn’t truly serve the driver, and that impacted the ownership experience.”
The decision by two of the Big Three automakers to adopt Tesla’s standard will essentially double the number of places where customers can fill up. It will also simplify the experience. Whereas a typical Electrify America or Chargepoint station may have four to six chargers, Supercharger stations can have as many as 50 to 100, reducing or eliminating wait times. Tesla’s charging cable and connector are smaller and lighter than CCS and CHAdeMO, making them easier to handle, and its chargers don’t have screens, which can break or be difficult to read. Payments are made exclusively through a mobile app.
Teske said this kind of efficiency is key to getting drivers to abandon internal combustion. “What truly will accelerate electric vehicle adoption is, how do we get average consumers to look at using electricity as their fuel of choice when buying a car and say, ‘That’s easy,’” he said.
Of course, the Tesla charging network can’t bear the burden of charging all 1.8 million electric vehicles on U.S. roads today, much less the 28.3 million expected by 2030. By one estimate, the country will need 172,000 public fast chargers by then. It currently has about 9,000. As third-party networks scale up, the moves by Ford, GM, and Rivian put pressure on them to do better.
“It’s forcing everybody else to get their act together,” said McDonald, “because if they don’t, they’re out of business at some point.”
EVgo and Chargepoint, among others, have announced they will add NACS connectors to their stations. That, of course, does not address issues with spotty reliability or cumbersome user experiences.
Nor does it solve the problem of customer confusion over which connector is compatible with their car and which charging stalls offer that connection — an impediment to ownership that the adoption of a single universal charging standard could solve.
Some in the industry publicly support this idea, including General Motors. “We have a real opportunity to drive this to be the unified standard for North America, which will enable even more mass adoption,” Barra said during her conversation with Musk.
An EVgo charging stall in Vienna, Virginia, includes both CCS and CHAdeMO connectors. EVgo has announced it will add NACS connectors to its chargers.
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Saul Loeb
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AFP via Getty Images
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Adopting a single standard would not happen overnight — there are hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles already on the road that don’t use Tesla’s plug, and the world’s two largest automakers, Volkswagen and Toyota, have not indicated they will embrace NACS.
The Biden administration, which has invested billions in accelerating EV adoption, has not publicly supported a single standard either. On Tuesday, the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced it will collaborate with the Society for Automotive Engineers to conduct an expedited review of NACS as a potential “public standard.” Such a designation would make it available to any manufacturer, much like a USB-C cord, which could further NACS adoption by more automakers.
That said, a $5 billion grant program run by the Joint Office to build 500,000 charging stations by 2030 still requires eligible projects to include at least four CCS connectors. While Texas and Washington recently added requirements that such projects also include NACS connectors, the Joint Office has not followed suit.
“I think we’re headed down a two standard-connector path for much of the rest of this decade,” said McDonald, who likened the landscape to other widespread technologies with dueling interfaces, like Apple versus Android and Windows versus Mac.
In the short term, it’s possible that charging could become even more confusing, as networks try to accommodate all three standards in their stations. Drivers may need to rely on adapters that they attach to connector cables to make them compatible with their car, adding a layer of hardware that can break or get lost.
“This is what happens when you have a Wild West approach to technology and everybody’s trying to prove they have the best mousetrap,” Teske said. “Unless there’s a really strong push for regulation to step in and change the conversation, we’re going to have a very messy landscape for drivers to contend with for years to come.”
It is already possible to catch a glimpse of what automaker-agnostic Supercharger stations will look like by visiting one of Tesla’s 11 Magic Dock Supercharger locations, which include CCS adapters so other cars can plug in.
At the Magic Dock in Placerville, California, last week, Dawn Sorrell pulled up to charge a Tesla Model Y that she’d rented for a trip from Virginia to visit her mother in Northern California. It was her first time driving a fully electric car. “It’s a completely different mindset, I’m just figuring it out as I go,” she said.
Sorrell supported the idea of outside automakers accessing the Tesla network. “Anything where you’re opening it up more is going to be better,” she said, “because it’s stressful, making sure you have a charge.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 14: Max Muncy #13, Tommy Edman #25, Mookie Betts #50, Freddie Freeman #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers look on during a pitching change during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in game three of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California.
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Sean M. Haffey
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Getty Images North America
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Topline:
Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.
What happened: Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
Garrett Mitchell hit a go-ahead homer in the sixth inning, Milwaukee’s brilliant bullpen slammed the door late and the Brewers rallied past the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 on Thursday in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1982.
No. 9 hitter David Hamilton’s two-out solo shot off Edwin Díaz gave the Brewers a two-run cushion in the ninth. Hamilton had just four homers in the regular season.
“We got down early tonight and we were like, it’s going to be a great story,” Brewers captain Christian Yelich said. “We’re going to come back and win this. Like, stay together, start chipping away. And that’s exactly what they did.”
Shohei Ohtani’s first home run this postseason helped put the Dodgers ahead 4-0 in the second inning before the Brewers came back to complete a four-game sweep of the two-time defending World Series champions a year after getting swept by Los Angeles in the NLCS.
Milwaukee became the first major league club to complete a postseason sweep after getting swept by that same opponent in the previous postseason.
“Playing with that chip on our shoulder,” Brewers reliever Aaron Ashby said. “You don’t ever know what to expect going into a series like that last year. You don’t know how bad it can be, and then it was as bad as it was. And we came out and we survived, and we came back this year, and those guys played their tails off.”
The Brewers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in their only other World Series appearance, when Milwaukee played in the American League.
With the score tied 4-all, Mitchell fell behind 0-2 before reliever Tanner Scott threw three straight balls for a full count. Mitchell’s 409-foot leadoff drive to center field — the first homer of his career on an 0-2 count — put the Brewers ahead for the first time. Mitchell also homered in their 6-2 victory Wednesday.null
“I’ve always dreamt of moments like these as a kid,” Mitchell said.
The Brewers’ bullpen coolly turned away multiple threats when the Dodgers had the potential tying run on base.
Winning pitcher JoJo Romero struck out Max Muncy with Kyle Tucker at third to end the sixth.
Ashby, who worked three scoreless innings for a save, struck out Ohtani swinging before Mookie Betts grounded out with Andy Pages at third to end the seventh. Will Smith doubled to right with one out in the eighth and was safe at third when the ball got away from Sal Frelick for an error before Ashby got Tucker to fly out and Teoscar Hernández to strike out.
The Brewers tied it in the fifth, when the Dodgers bullpen issued four walks and Milwaukee stole two bases. Hamilton’s single chased starter Tyler Glasnow and scored Frelick, who walked and stole second, to pull Milwaukee to 4-3.
Alex Vesia came in and promptly walked Brice Turang and William Contreras to load the bases. Vesia then walked NLCS MVP Jake Bauers with two outs to force in Hamilton with the tying run.
Glasnow retired his first 10 batters — six on strikeouts — before the Brewers got to him in the fourth. Turang walked, Contreras hit a ground-rule double and Bauers followed with another ground-rule double that closed Milwaukee to 4-2.
Ohtani broke out of his postseason slump with a three-run homer after Pages’ RBI single in the second. The four-time MVP released weeks of pent-up frustration by raising his arms and yelling and the crowd of 49,104 joined him in celebration.
Matthew Ballinger
is the senior editor for climate and environment coverage at LAist.
Published October 15, 2026 5:52 PM
The Henderson Fire sparked Thursday afternoon at Camp Pendleton.
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Alert California
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UC San Diego
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Topline:
Parts of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have been ordered to evacuate, and the 5 Freeway has been closed in both directions as a wildfire burns in the area. The Henderson Fire had charred more than 1,100 acres as of 4:40 p.m.
What we know so far: The 5 Freeway was closed between Harbor Drive, near Oceanside, and Basilone Road, near the Orange County line. The Camp Pendleton Fire Department was fighting the fire, according to Cal Fire.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This is a developing story. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Parts of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton have been ordered to evacuate, and the 5 Freeway was briefly closed in both directions due to a wildfire in the area. The Henderson Fire had charred more than 1,118 acres as of 7 p.m.
CHP closed the 5 Freeway between Harbor Drive, near Oceanside, and Basilone Road, near the Orange County line, but began reopening the interstate just before 6 p.m.
The Camp Pendleton Fire Department was fighting the fire, according to Cal Fire.
The basics
Acreage: 1,118 acres as of Thursday afternoon
Containment: 0%
Structures destroyed: None reported
Deaths: None reported
Injuries: None reported
Evacuation orders
According to Cal Fire: "An evacuation order has been published for the Las Flores (41 Area). All affected personnel, please evacuate to Paige Field House, located in the 11 Area." A secondary evacuation point was set up at 21 Area gym, according to the Camp Pendleton Facebook page.
Road closures
5 Freeway between Basilone Road and Harbor Drive, but it was being reopened.
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Destiny Torres
covers all things SoCal, from breaking news to local government, with a focus on Orange County.
Published October 15, 2026 4:19 PM
A Costa Mesa woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year for registering her dog to vote and casting ballots in two elections has had her case dismissed
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Tiffany Ujiiye
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LAist
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Topline:
A Costa Mesa woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year for registering her dog to vote and casting ballots in two elections has had her case dismissed, according to the district attorney’s office Thursday. She won’t serve time but will have to pay for four anti-voter fraud billboards that feature her dog’s image.
Background: Laura Lee Yourex, 64, was charged with five felonies in 2025 for illegally registering her dog and casting ballots on its behalf. Yourex was facing up to six years in prison. In April, Yourex pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of knowingly registering a “non-existent person to vote,” and the DA’s office dismissed the remaining four felony charges against her. LAist did not immediately hear from Yourex’s lawyer.
More on the billboards:As part of the plea deal, Yourex was required to pay $1,500 for four anti-voter fraud billboards along the 55 and 22 freeways in Orange County for the Nov. 3 General Election. The billboards read, “Don’t be a dog. Voter Fraud is a Crime. If you can’t legally vote, don’t vote. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office will prosecute.”
Laura Lee Yourex was required to pay $1,500 for four anti-voter fraud billboards along the 55 and 22 freeways in Orange County.
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Courtesy of the OC District Attorney's Office.
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Why this matters: The dog incident comes at a time of heightened debate over voter ID. In the General Election, Californians will be asked whether to require voters to show proof of ID at polling places and provide identification numbers on mail-in ballots. Currently, voters only need to provide an ID and Social Security number when they register to vote.
Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period.
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Kelsey Knight
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Unsplash
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Topline:
California’s wine industry is still trying to figure out how to adapt to a world with fewer alcohol drinkers, where even the most high-end wineries are fighting a losing battle. Because the state has more wine than people want to drink, some wineries are quietly selling their premium bottles under generic retail home brands like Costco’s Kirkland Signature or Kroger and Aldi labels.
Sales: Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing grape prices to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production.
“They have way too much of it, and they haven’t been able to sell it the last few years,” said Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show.
Listen
15:51
How California wineries are dealing with a high-end bottle surplus
Bargain bottles: Lander has reported that bottles that typically cost around $150 are now, in some cases, going for less than $30 under a different brand label.
How to take advantage: Lander says if you’re looking to take advantage of the surplus bargain, look at the region on the bottle and then do a little experimenting with your palate.
Listen to the full conversation above: To learn more about the wine industry’s outlook and the effects on consumers.
Topline:
California’s wine industry is still trying to figure out how to adapt to a world with fewer alcohol drinkers, where even the most high-end wineries are fighting a losing battle. Because the state has more wine than people want to drink, some wineries are quietly selling their premium bottles under generic retail home brands like Costco’s Kirkland Signature or Kroger and Aldi labels.
Sales: Wine sales have decreased by more than 20% over a five-year period, causing grape prices to drop and prompting California growers to take roughly a quarter of the state’s vineyards out of production.
“They have way too much of it, and they haven’t been able to sell it the last few years,” said Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, during a conversation on AirTalk, LAist 89.3’s daily news show.
Bargain bottles: Lander has reported that bottles that typically cost around $150 are now, in some cases, going for less than $30 under a different label.
How to take advantage: Lander says if you’re looking to take advantage of the surplus bargain, look at the region on the bottle and then do a little experimenting with your palate.
Listen to the full conversation above: To learn more about the wine industry’s outlook and the effects on consumers.
