As a wide array of manufacturers from BMW BMWYY to Chevrolet GM offer electric cars in their lineup, one must think that the salespeople responsible for getting buyers in the driver's seat would know the in-and-outs of these new, innovative models.
However, data from a recent J.D. Power report showed that people who bought normal gas-powered cars reported that they were much more satisfied with the buying experience than those who bought an electric vehicle.
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As if the data isn't damning enough, a new report shows that there is are still major hurdles in the way of EV adoption.
Dealership woes
According to a report by the Washington Post, many keen adopters of electric vehicles find that car dealers are uneducated and unenthusiastic about learning about this new technology.
The paper spoke to several EV buyers who said that dealers tried to sell them gas cars instead, or gave them unclear or blatantly incorrect facts and answers about electric cars.
Michael Young, a self-described "car guy," told the Post that he attempted to test drive a BMW i3 at his local dealership after reading about it online, but was met with a hesitant dealer.
BMW
“You can’t drive that car on the highway,” Young recalled the salesperson told him, who then explained to him that the car couldn’t go over 45 miles per hour.
“I was kind of dumbfounded by that,” Young said.
Young would end up buying the car after convincing the sales person to go on a test drive ultimately bought the Beemer, but he was lucky in comparison to James Richards.
Richards would be able to test drive EVs from Volkswagen, Tesla, Chevrolet and Ford, but said that found the dealer experience to be "cringeworthy," as dealers did not seem to know much about the electric models they were trying to sell.
Ford
What's more, when he did try to buy what he wanted – a Ford F-150 Lightning, the truck in the trim he wanted was back-ordered, in which the salesperson attempted to sell him an expensive trim with a high dealer markup.
He ultimately bought a Tesla Model Y. Tesla TSLA, most notably, sells its cars directly to its consumers without the dealership network of other brands like Chevrolet or Ford, but said there was one clear difference between them.
"[Tesla salespeople] strike you as EV geeks," Richards told the Post. "All the other dealerships: Ford, VW, the GM people — they didn’t seem like specialists.”
Maya Batres, the owner of a used Fiat 500e said that the dealer that sold her the little Italian runabout offered a plan for oil changes and an extended warranty for a gas-powered car.
The advent of EVs present dealers with an ultimatum, as the profit margins are slimmer, EVs takes longer to sell and their technology is unknown, which makes dealers weary.
According to a survey conducted at the end of 2022 by the Sierra Club, 66% of dealers did not have an EV for sale, and that 30% of dealers said they wouldn't offer an EV, even if they could.
More Business of EVs:
- A full list of EVs and hybrids that qualify for federal tax credits
- Here’s why EV experts are flaming Joe Biden’s car policy
- The EV industry is facing an unusual new problem
National Automobile Dealers Association president and CEO Mike Stanton simply said that the dealership model for traditional gas-powered cars isn't suited for EVs, and it may be passed onto the customer.
“Dealers don’t want to change the model,” Stanton said. “They want to be the gatekeepers.”
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