Full disclosure: I spent nearly all of the final two years claiming — my phrases — that “Ford would sooner or later eat Tesla’s lunch.”

This was when the legacy automaker was busy unveiling the Ford F-150 Lightning electrical pickup, sizzling off the heels of the Mustang Mach-E.

As we speak, I’m ready to eat crow, because the saying goes.

Tesla may not make all of the autos individuals need — that’s to say, pickups and SUVs — however they nonetheless do make autos lots of people need, as evidenced by 1.31 million autos bought worldwide final 12 months. My view of Tesla’s recognition — which I generally liken to a cult — was, admittedly, myopic, primarily based largely on North American public reluctance to plug into battery-electric autos.

However what has me extra sure that Tesla will probably be right here for a really very long time — promoting the vehicles individuals need or not — is its capability to alter the electric-vehicle charging infrastructure on a dime.

The disruptor spent most of June and early July utterly reshaping the trade. Elon Musk and Co. satisfied Common Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Rivian to start out utilizing its North American Charging Commonplace (NACS) plug. Stellantis and Volkswagen are additionally contemplating the identical transfer.

It was like watching dominoes fall every day as I sat at my desk enhancing and posting tales about deal after deal.

And, on the identical time, firms that manufacture chargers are additionally falling in line. Electrify America will add Tesla chargers to its huge community. And Canadian EV charger maker Flo will incorporate the NACS plug into its subsequent era of chargers.

That is all very large information as a result of Tesla operates about 17,000 charging connectors in North America. And, based on a latest J.D. Energy examine, its fast-charging community is taken into account probably the most reliable. That’s necessary as a result of as we’ve been listening to for years, vary nervousness and infrastructure — or lack thereof — are actual deterrents to EV gross sales in Canada.

However, Tesla house owners usually don’t have these worries as a result of the community is so large and so dependable.

So, now think about each charger — and EV — in North America is all of a sudden and basically a Tesla. That’s a sport changer, for the automaker and the trade.

With just a few strokes of the pen and a few shrewd negotiating, I’m certain — particulars of those agreements weren’t disclosed — the variety of quick chargers obtainable to Canadians grew exponentially. It’s virtually as if we’ll have a charger on each nook, a lot the way in which we see gasoline stations at present.

This may very effectively go down as Musk’s and Tesla’s best accomplishment.