Ford Looking To Make Amends With Dealers By Paying For EV Investments

As Ford began its electric vehicle roll-out in the U.S., it had some ambitious plans for how sales would go. It put some significant requirements in place for dealers to get new EVs, such as the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, including investment in infrastructure, as well as restrictions on pricing. The infrastructure part might have been the biggest hurdle, since dealers would have to spend at least $500,000 to get at least one DC fast charger, or as much as $900,000 for a pair of them for a higher tier of certification. Ford was even expecting dealers in that latter group to spend another $300,000 for a third DC charger by 2026. This big plan to build out infrastructure and tweak the buying experience was then scrapped last year after dealer meetings and many dealers opting out of selling EVs. And now, Ford is going even further to mend fences by reimbursing dealers some of this money.

Dealers Won’t Get All Their Money Back

According to Automotive News, Ford has a plan to start paying back dealers part of their big up-front investments. There are two main options available. The first offers the most money available, at up to $240,000 for dealers that paid for three DC chargers. In addition to $10,000 per charger, Ford will then pay up to $2,000 for every EV sale from now through 2026, or $1,750 per car through 2027, up to that limit. The other option is a flat, up-front payment of $40,000 per charger for a potential total of $120,000, which might be best for dealers with low EV sales. It’s not the whole sum, but it should take some of the edge off.

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This Probably Won’t Change Much For Customers

Don’t expect anything like new discounts on Ford EVs, though, even with these payments coming in from Ford. The customer experience should pretty much be the same. But, there should be more Ford dealers with EVs available than there have been before. When Ford ended its planned certification program, it reworked it so that dealers didn’t have to make the big investments in DC fast chargers, as well as reduced some of the training requirements. Dealers will still need to go through some training, but Level 2 AC chargers will be sufficient to get EVs. So, if you’re in a part of the country where finding a nearby dealer with a Mach-E or Lightning was challenging, odds are you’ll have some new options in the near future.

Source: Automotive News