- Ford passenger EVs get access to Tesla Supercharger routing with Apple Maps and CarPlay.
- CarPlay pulls the estimated remaining range from the EV’s brain and displays it on the screen.
- However, en-route preconditioning is not available when using Apple Maps on CarPlay.
Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E owners in North America can now use Apple Maps on CarPlay to navigate to fast chargers that offer Tesla’s NACS plug.
In a blog post, Ford said that owners don’t need to update any software to make this happen, but that an iPhone running iOS 17 and later is required. That said, drivers need to set their charging network preference in the Apple Maps settings to a NACS fast charging operator such as the Tesla Supercharger network. This is a one-time thing, though.
After setting everything up, Apple Maps on CarPlay will plan a route to the destination accounting for the appropriate charging stops along the way. It will also display the estimated state of charge level remaining at each charging stop and the destination. Ford said it worked with Apple to develop communications between the EV and iPhone, but that the battery level will only update when an Apple device connects through CarPlay. In other words, using your iPhone on a phone mount without connecting it to CarPlay will not show you the range estimates.
Another neat feature is that Apple Maps will show a warning if a NACS to CCS adapter is needed at a specific charging station. As a reminder, the current Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E EVs come with a CCS1 inlet from the factory, whereas the vast majority of Tesla Superchargers have North American Charging Standard (NACS) plugs. So even though Ford’s EVs can charge at select Superchargers in the United States and Canada, a charging adapter is still needed.
This is a welcome addition to the growing list of improvements made by Ford to its EVs, but it comes with a huge caveat. When using Apple Maps on CarPlay, neither the Mustang Mach-E nor the F-150 Lightning will precondition the battery for fast charging before arriving at a DC fast charger. That’s despite the car knowing it will stop at one.
Photo by: Ford
Ford Mustang Mach-E with Apple Maps on CarPlay
Android smartphone owners have this capability when using Google Maps on Android Auto, meaning iPhone users will still have to go through the car’s built-in navigation system to select a DC fast charger and navigate to it if they want to have the battery up to temperature when plugging in.
According to Ford, en-route preconditioning will not work when using Apple CarPlay, if there is no active Connected Navigation Subscription, if the predicted battery level on arrival is less than 5% or if the predicted driving range is less than 10 miles at arrival.
