Ford F-150 Lightning and Mach-e drivers may have to wait a little longer to plug into Tesla’s Supercharger network. After several had already received their NACS adapters, Ford emailed many to say it was replacing the unit. In the meantime, the company doesn’t recommend using the current one.
Ford replacing some NACS adapters over potential issue
Last May, Ford CEO Jim Farley joined Elon Musk on X to announce a partnership that would allow Ford EV drivers to access Tesla’s vast Supercharger network.
Ford was the first, with nearly every major OEM revealing similar plans shortly after. Although Ford’s electric models won’t have a built-in NACS port until next year, Ford said it would send drivers an adapter to gain quicker access.
After opening reservations for the adapter in January, Ford initially said drivers could order one through June 30. The deadline was moved to August 31, earlier this summer.
Now, Ford already is planning on replacing some of the NACS adapters that were sent out to owners.
Several Ford F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E drivers are receiving emails saying, “As a part of ongoing testing, your adapter has been identified by Ford to have a potential issue that may result in reduced charging speeds over time, and in some cases, charge port damage.”
The email adds, “Ford does not recommend using the adapter initially supplied to you with any vehicle from this time on, and we will be sending you a replacement.”
While you wait on the replacement, Ford drivers can check FordPass or other public charging apps to find other options.
As part of its new “Ford Power Promise,” the company is giving new EV buyers a free Level 2 home charger and covering the cost of standard installation.
Ford says its new program is designed to make it easier than ever to go electric while closing the gap between perceptions about EVs and the reality. According to Ford, most people don’t realize the true benefits of driving an EV, such as waking up to a full charge every day.
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Tesla has released a new mobile app update that adds more offline functionalities, Powerwall power meter, and more.
Today, Tesla pushed a new Tesla app update to the Apple app store and the release notes read:
Commands can now be executed offline when in proximity to the vehicle. Requires vehicle software version 2024.38+
Add your favorite commands to Control Center in iOS 18
It’s not clear which commands will now be able to work without an internet connection, but it certainly could be useful.
However, if you are already in proximity to the vehicle, unlocking the car and opening the trunk/frunk are the only really useful ones.
There are also some updates that are not in the release notes.
Tesla software engineer Alex Guichet reports that there’s now a new power meter in the app for Powerwall and POwershare owners:
Powerwall owners can now track how close they are to hitting their max power capacity in an outage:
This allows homeowners to adjust their power usage in real-time to avoid any overloading issues and potentially extend the time Powerwalls can power your home amid an outage.
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If you like to upgrade your car yearly as you would with an iPhone, now you can. Hyundai launched a new “ultra-fast” lease offer on the IONIQ 5 so you don’t miss out on the latest tech and features. To sweeten the deal, Hyundai requires $0 due at signing.
Hyundai’s electric SUV is already among the best-selling EVs on the market. Based on its advanced E-GMP platform, the 2024 IONIQ 5 has over 300 miles range and fast charges (10% to 80%) in just 18 minutes.
Staring at $41,800, Hyundai’s electric SUV is one of the most affordable ways to go electric. Now, it’s making it even easier to drive off in a new IONIQ 5.
Hyundai introduced a new national “ultra-fast” lease offer that allows you to try the IONIQ 5 without a long-term commitment. According to online auto research firm CarsDirect, Hyundai sent a memo to dealers outlining a new 13-month lease offer on the 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5.
The 2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 SE Long Range is available for $399 for 13 months, with $0 due at signing. The deal is good until October 31 and is based on 12,000 miles a year.
Hyundai introduces new ultra-fast IONIQ 5 lease offer
Hyundai said the program gives customers more flexibility. The memo stated it’s “like upgrading to the new iPhone every year, customers can now get the latest and greatest vehicle model without feeling trapped or committed to their cars for a long duration.”
At just $399 per month with $0 down (meaning no first-month payment), Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 remains one of the top choices for going electric.
The new offer comes after Hyundai unveiled the updated 2025 IONIQ 5 last month. It was the first vehicle to roll off the assembly line at Hyundai Motor’s new Metaplant America, which opened in Georgia earlier this year.
Hyundai’s new 2025 model has more range, an NACS port to access Tesla Superchargers, and a new XTL trim.
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 trim
Starting Price (excluding destination fee)
Range (EPA est miles)
SE Standard Range
$41,800
220
SE
$45,850
RWD: 303 AWD: 260
SEL
$47,400
RWD: 303 AWD: 260
Limited
$53,500
RWD: 303 AWD: 260
D100
$59,400
260
2024 Hyundai IONIQ 5 prices and trim options
Although the new model is on its way, Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 remains one of the best-selling EVs in the US. According to Cox Automotive, it was the fifth top-selling EV in the US in the third quarter.
Marquee at the main entrance to BlackRock headquarters building in Manhattan.
Erik Mcgregor | Lightrocket | Getty Images
SALT LAKE CITY — A year ago, Samara Cohen believed there was so much pent-up demand for bitcoin that she and her team at BlackRock launched one of the first-ever spot bitcoin exchange-traded products in the U.S. Now investors are flocking in, and a lot of them are crypto enthusiasts who are new to Wall Street.
Cohen, who heads up the asset manager’s exchange-traded funds and index investments as chief investment officer, told CNBC that BlackRock now sees the demand was for a better way to access bitcoin. “It was for the ETF wrapper,” she told CNBC on stage at the Permissionless Conference in Utah.
The total market cap of all eleven spot bitcoin ETFs now tops $63 billion, with total flows of nearly $20 billion. In the last five trading days alone, spot bitcoin ETFs have seen net inflows of more than $2.1 billion, with BlackRock accounting for half of those sales.
The spike in trading volume comes as bitcoin hit its highest level since July this week, trading above $68,300. Bitcoin ended the third quarter up around 140% from the same quarter a year ago, outpacing the S&P 500, as these spot token funds and the crypto market cap move higher in lock-step. Crypto-aligned stock Coinbase closed up about 24% this week, its best week since February.
Cohen told CNBC that part of the strategy for attracting customers to its funds was teaching crypto investors about the benefits of exchange-traded products (ETPs).
13F filings, which offer quarterly reads on equity positions taken by large investors, show that 80% of the buyers of these new spot bitcoin products in the U.S. are direct investors. Of the 80% of direct investors, Cohen told CNBC that 75% had never before owned an iShare, one of the best-known and largest ETF providers on the planet.
“So we went into this journey with the expectation that we needed to educate ETF investors on crypto and on bitcoin specifically,” said Cohen. “As it turns out, we have done a lot of education of crypto investors on the benefits of the ETP wrapper.”
Before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission green-lit spot bitcoin funds in January, investors had a few ways to buy and custody cryptocurrencies. A centralized exchange like Coinbase was among the most user-friendly options for U.S investors. But the blockbuster debut of bitcoin ETPs has laid bare to Cohen and others across Wall Street, that crypto exchanges weren’t giving digital asset investors everything they needed.
BlackRock’s IBIT vs. bitcoin YTD
It helps that the U.S. is a huge market for digital assets. New data from Chainalysis shows that North America remains the biggest crypto market globally, accounting for nearly 23% of all crypto trading volume. The blockchain analytics platform estimates that between July 2023 and July 2024, there was $1.3 trillion in on-chain value received.
Venture firm a16z found in its recently released State of Crypto report that more than 40 million Americans hold crypto.
So far, adoption has mostly been through wealth management clients asking advisors to add new spot crypto products to their portfolio.
In August, Morgan Stanley was the first big bank to allow its 15,000 financial advisors to pitch bitcoin ETFs from BlackRock and Fidelity to clients with a net worth over $1.5 million. Other firms are still performing in-house due diligence before allowing their armies of FAs to start actively pitching the funds.
“Wealth manager allocators have not been allocating,” VanEck CEO Jan van Eck told CNBC in Utah. “I mean, they’re barely even warming up.”
Van Eck drew parallels to the European market, where the company has 12 token-based products trading in Europe.
“It’s exactly what we see in Europe,” he said. “Very few private banks have really approved investment in bitcoin or ethereum or anything else in a major way.” Van Eck said his company has about $2 billion in its European crypto ETPs, and that a lot of the volume is from individual investors.
Wall Street needs rules from lawmakers on Capitol Hill before it gets more comfortable with crypto.
ETFs create transparency
Cohen thinks that in a lot of ways, ETFs and blockchain technology are solving for similar things.
“ETFs have been a decentralizing force in TradFi markets that have brought a lot more access and transparency, and importantly, really accelerated in growth during the post crisis 2008, 2009 period,” said Cohen, referring to traditional finance markets.
“I find it incredibly meaningful to look at the fact that the bitcoin whitepaper was published on October 31, 2008, and then you have the G20 leaders from around the world meeting to discuss the aftermath of the financial crisis and how do you create more transparency through public reporting,” Cohen continued.
BlackRock took on less risk by using counterparty clearing and multilateral trading. In TradFi markets, those moves created huge tailwinds for ETFs.
“Then at the same time, DeFi is becoming a reality over the intervening 15 years,” she said.
“Was this a win for Bitcoin? Was this a win for ETPs? To me, the answer is: It’s a win for investors, to the extent we can effectively marry these ecosystems which are solving for the same goals.”