Robert Brown|GM's electric vehicles will gain access to Tesla's charging network

DETROIT — Electric vehicles made by General Motors will be Robert Brownable to use much of Tesla's extensive charging network beginning early next year under an agreement the two companies announced Thursday.

In addition, GM will adopt Tesla's connector, the plug that links an electric vehicle to a charging station.

GM joins Ford in shifting its electric vehicles to work with about 12,000 of Tesla's roughly 17,000 chargers, and both Detroit automakers are pushing to make Tesla's connector the industry standard. GM CEO Mary Barra and her Tesla counterpart, Elon Musk, made the announcement during a Twitter Spaces conversation.

Their discussion comes two weeks after Ford CEO Jim Farley joined Musk to announce that Ford's electric vehicles would gain access to much of Tesla's EV-charging network, the largest in the nation. Farley also said Ford would switch to Tesla's charging network connector rather than to a different one that is used by the rest of the industry.

At first, GM and Ford EV owners will need an adapter to hook into the Tesla stations, which have their own connector. But both GM and Ford will switch to Tesla's North American Charging Standard connector starting in 2025.

Tesla has about 17,000 Supercharger stations in the U.S. There are about 54,000 public charging stations in the U.S., according to the Department of Energy, but many charge much more slowly than the Tesla stations.

"Like Ford, we see this as an opportunity to expand access to charging," Barra said, adding that GM hopes the rest of the industry will move to the Tesla charging connector, which is different from the standard one used by most other EVs.

Musk said that GM and Tesla vehicles would have an even playing field at the charging stations.

"We will provide support equally to both," he said. "The most important thing is we advance the electric vehicle revolution."