Elon Musk of Tesla and Jim Farley of Ford will talk about electric vehicles on Twitter on Thursday

DETROIT – Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley and Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk will host a live audio discussion via Twitter Spaces about accelerating EV adoption at 5:30 pm ET Thursday, according to message from Farley.

Online discussions between competitors come as Ford tries to ramp up production of its all-electric vehicles in an attempt to catch up with – or someday surpass – Tesla’s sales in the segment.

While Tesla still dominates the EV sector, Ford ranked second in all-electric vehicle sales in the US last year with 61,575 electric vehicles sold.

The Twitter Spaces event will mark the latest interaction between two executives who have a unique rivalry between them. Each of them expressed admiration for the other, despite the fact that their companies directly compete.

Musk, who leads Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter, has repeatedly praised Ford as a historic American company, lauding its ability to avoid bankruptcy, unlike rivals in other cities. General Motors and Chrysler during the Great Recession.

And while other automakers put their Twitter ad spending on hold when Elon Musk took over the company on social media last year, Ford remained active on the platform. Farley personally interacted frequently with his fans and Twitter followers.

Farley also praised Tesla for its leadership in electric vehicles under Musk, trying to replicate many of its successes.

Ford markedly outpaced Tesla in the pickup segment by starting production of its F-150 Lightning, an electric version of its enduringly popular trucks, in April 2022. Ford also thoroughly tested the Tesla Model Y for its Mustang Mach-E crossover and followed Tesla on price. cuts of electric crossovers.

The timing of the discussion between the leaders of Tesla and Ford will probably surprise many. It comes a day after massive technical glitches on Twitter Spaces prevented Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from announcing his presidential campaign there.

This won’t be the first time a Tesla competitor has spoken or asked Musk to speak to him. In 2021 then-Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess invited Musk to an internal conference with executives from the German automaker to discuss innovation.