Culture

Ford to cover cost of home charger, installation for EV buyers through end of year


Breana Noble | (TNS) The Detroit News

In an effort to boost sales, Ford Motor Co. will cover the cost of a home charging station and its installation starting Tuesday through the end of the year for customers who buy or lease a new electric vehicle.

EV sales aren’t growing as quickly as the industry had expected. Affordability, availability of charging infrastructure, battery health and convenience remain barriers to EV adoption. Covering the expense of getting a Level 2 charger for customers of Mustang Mach-E SUVs or F-150 Lightning trucks to refuel at home helps to address some of those obstacles, said Martin Delonis, senior manager of strategy for Model e, Ford’s EV division.

“An electric vehicle fills up when you’re not paying attention — passive fueling overnight like charging a smartphone,” he said during a virtual briefing on the program. “It’s hard for anyone to understand a convenience that didn’t exist before. Only half the people we talked to recognize that it was easier to fill up at home and wake up ready to go every day. There’s an efficiency there that’s not realized, and it takes time to understand it.”

Ford didn’t provide an exact number for the total value of the “Ford Power Promise” fourth-quarter promotion. The charger included is the Ford Charge Station Pro, which retails for $1,310. Installation can cost several hundred dollars more.

Customers who already have a charger or are unable to install a charger if, for example, they live in an apartment can receive a discount of up to $2,000 on a new EV over the course of the promotion. Ford Pro fleet customers who purchase the all-electric E-Transit commercial van or another EV will receive a commercial charging cash incentive, Ford CEO Jim Farley wrote in a LinkedIn post.

“Filling up at home with electricity can be a significant cost save for many owners compared to filling up with gas. Problem is nearly half of them don’t know how home charging works,” he wrote. “Our industry seems to want to answer these questions in a time-honored way — cash on the hood. Cheap lease deals on electric vehicles are popping up everywhere. Ford believes it will take more than jumbo rebates to truly break through with the estimated 19 million people in the U.S. interested in electric vehicles. It will take — you guessed it — convenience, peace of mind and expert service. It will take a modern-day version of the friendly filling station, only this time you ‘fill ’er up’ at home.”

Related Articles

Transportation |

All the major legal battles Elon Musk and his companies are facing

Transportation |

DMV knowledge test no longer required for California drivers 70 and older

Transportation |

Bill separating new California warehouses from neighborhoods signed into law

Transportation |

Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment

      

(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *