- Ford will now give out home Level 2 chargers with the purchase or lease of one of its electric vehicles.
- Ford is also covering installation costs, albeit with a few exceptions like digging trenches.
- The move is aimed at helping customers get past some of the most common barriers with EV adoption, which Ford describes as "charging anxiety."
Ford knows that it has a long road ahead for getting more of its customers to go electric.
Despite being the no. 2 best-selling single electric vehicle brand behind Tesla, Ford discovered in a recent survey of more than 2,000 prospective buyers that it's still dealing with many barriers, myths and misconceptions that are keeping many people from breaking up with gasoline. Those include, Ford officials said, a lack of understanding about the benefits of home charging; an overestimation of how much electric range they need for the vast majority of daily driving; and fears that their EV batteries will have to be replaced often and at tremendous cost.
So now, the automaker is taking steps to tackle those misconceptions with a new program it calls the Ford Power Promise. Perhaps the most notable one is that Ford will now throw in a complimentary home charger with the purchase or lease of any new EV, and better yet, cover the installation costs as well.
Considering that home Level 2 EV chargers can cost several hundred dollars and installation can run anywhere between $2,000 and $10,000 depending on various conditions, this is a very good deal. And it may just convince prospective Ford EV owners not only to go electric, but that they don't need to depend on DC fast chargers as they would a gas station.
"We've done the research and found that it's not range anxiety we're dealing with, it's change anxiety," said Martin Delonis, a senior manager with Ford's electric Model E division, on a call last week with reporters. "Shoppers worry about range, charging and battery health. These aren't the concerns of [existing EV owners.] This tells us that there is a tremendous perception gap to bridge, and shoppers need help crossing it."
The program starts Oct. 1, and it also includes other perks for anyone interested in a Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning or E-Transit cargo van. Those include 24/7 live technical support for any EV needs that may arise, complimentary roadside assistance in the unlikely event that they run out of juice on the road, and reminding buyers that the battery warranty is good for eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
"Most of our growth in electric truck and SUV sales has been with early adopters, true electric vehicle enthusiasts and those that had motivations grounded in adopting cutting-edge technology," Delonis said.
This program is about reaching everybody else.
Charging At Home Is Ideal, But It's Poorly Understood
The vast majority of EV owners already charge at home. But that covers many of those first- and second-wave early adopters that Delonis spoke of. For everyone else, breaking the gas station paradigm—the idea that you must leave your house to "fuel" up—after a century of internal combustion driving is proving harder than expected.
Many prospective EV owners don't want to incur the "extra" cost of getting a home charger and think they can rely solely on DC fast charging instead. While that does work as an option for many people, it's also difficult due to longer charging times, lines, challenges with reliability and uptime and more. Ford's own research said that 89% of EV shoppers are more likely to buy one if they had access to home charging, but that "46% of shoppers don’t know how home charging works in contrast to 92% of owners who find charging at home as easy as charging their phones." Moreover, Ford's research indicates a full 79% of EV owners rarely use public charging.
"Electric vehicle shoppers believe they need a minimum of 350 miles," Delonis said. "But about half of the drivers out there can count on one hand the number of days they drove farther than 150 miles, and most won't drive over 290 miles in a single day at all."
Delonis added that most survey respondents believed that the average high-speed DC charger is 44 miles away, when in reality it's about half that for most people.
As such, Delonis said, Ford is now trying to step beyond just the vehicle itself to stress the benefits of EV ownership that longtime electric drivers know but newcomers may not understand.
"Filling up an electric vehicle is a mindset shift," he said. "It also requires a behavior change. An electric vehicle fills up when you're not paying attention with passive fueling overnight, like charging a smartphone. It's hard for anyone to understand the convenience that didn't exist before. Only half the people we talked to recognized it was easier to fill up at home and wake up ready to go."
Will Dealers Step Up Too?
That's where the new plan to offer free home chargers comes in. "We're the only ones doing this," said Becca Anderson, a senior director at Ford Model E. "This means less stress and more convenience for our customers." Other automakers, including Honda and Acura, give out home chargers with an EV purchase and offer installation credits, but Ford's offer is one of the most comprehensive on the market.
Ford officials said the standard installation process will cover up to 60-amp circuits, 80 feet of wiring and ties to the meter. It does not include digging underground lines or panel upgrades, so those may be additional costs for the buyer to handle. The Ford Charge Station Pro is the unit included with the deal, and the installation process is handled by an outside provider, Qmerit.
Traditionally, car companies have been content to just make cars and then let some other entity—dealers, fueling partners and so on—handle everything else. But many are realizing they need to take extra steps to get buyers into EVs. Ford has broken ground on several fronts over the past year, including being the first to open up the Tesla Supercharger network to its EVs and, more plug-and-charge options through its BlueOval network. At the same time, Ford has run into barriers of its own. Sales of its EVs have been strong, but not as high as projected, and the continued losses on those models have irked Wall Street. As a result, Ford is dialing back some EV plans, including turning a three-row electric crossover into a hybrid, and delaying other models by a few years. A new low-cost EV platform expected to spawn several new models is also in the cards.
Whether a free home charger and installation and other moves to assuage EV fears will work remains to be seen, as does the question of whether Ford's dealers will advertise these perks or even educate customers about them. In recent months, Ford has had to walk back what was once an aggressive dealer certification program focused on EVs amid a backlash that even included lawsuits.
But Ford officials told InsideEVs that the company's new Ford University program has seen progress in educating salespeople so they can do the same to customers. "Our dealers are our committed partner in providing the largest network of services, like pickup and delivery and mobile service, and together, we [will] deliver the Ford Power Promise," Anderson said.
One thing is for certain, however: getting a Ford EV is now a better deal than it's ever been.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
