Ford cancels Model e Dealer Program, letting all US retailers sell EVs

[Snakebitten]

A nearby Subaru dealership that didn't even have an EV in their lineup, until the Toyota EV finally showed up in Subaru livery, has a DCFC onsite.

I'm curious if that was mandated, or the dealership just felt like selling and servicing EV's warranted being able to charge them?

My point never was to support the manufacturers mandating DCFC chargers, but rather there surely are dealerships that would/will install one regardless.

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[dbsb3233]

They have completed work on some solid motor and inverter components, and are continuing to iterate. I think a vehicle with a less-ambitious ADAS can cut costs quite a bit. LFP battery partnerships, which they have, will almost certainly drive costs down. We shall see. As long as they are building up, it will be difficult to be profitable immediately.

Another biggie is qualifying for the $7500 tax credit. The loss of that (while the Model Y got it back) clobbered Mach-E demand.

Build a 275 mile range compact UTE BEV (Ecosport) with good-enough 6 second 0-60 that's profitable at $33,000 ($25,500 after tax credit), and they're back in the game. Not every EV needs to perform like a sports car. An EV Ecosport would be Ford's answer to the Chevy Bolt.

 

[dbsb3233]

The requirement that chargers be installed in urban/suburban areas along the east and west coasts really made little sense. However, DCFC systems really are needed at rural dealers and for most dealers in the flyover states and south. When we traveled across the country and back towing our travel trailer behind our Lightning, there were many routes where we relied upon chargers at car dealerships. None of them were Ford dealers because so few Ford dealers had DCFC systems installed.

Ford needs to find a way to bring DCFC to dealers in areas where they are lacking. The Model e Dealership model failed. It’s time for Ford to come up with a new way to help bring DCFC to these charging deserts.

That was the problem though... it was the rural dealerships (largely) that opted out of the Model e program for being too onerous and a bad fit, because they didn't have much demand for EVs. Didn't make financial sense for them.

And honestly, I don't think it makes financial sense for Ford to be in the DCFC business either.

 

[VaporTrails]

And honestly, I don't think it makes financial sense for Ford to be in the DCFC business either.

This. It was way outside their wheelhouse. DCFC is not cheap like other expensive things a dealership has to buy. In small dealerships the power from the street isn’t there. If they wanted to do it, corporate deals with a supplier and/or working with city/county/state on incentives. Even then, making it an absolute is detached from the rural reality..

I’m still arguing with friends about them needing 500 mile range to even consider an EV. We just aren’t there yet. In my neck of the woods we are at least getting closer with 1-2 stall DCFC starting to pop up at the power company. That is in the third most populous county in the state.

 

[mkhuffman]

I’m still arguing with friends about them needing 500 mile range to even consider an EV.

I agree with your friends. We are early adopters who are willing to live with the pain of being an early adopter. My wife, and most of my friends, are not ready for that. A BEV that can really go 500 miles would change everything, including reducing the burden on the current DCFC infrastructure.

Anyway, it is an old argument in this forum. Many forum members disagree with me, and I suppose you do also. That is OK. We all have our own perspectives.

I will say that personally I desperately want a 500-mile range MME. I know I can get a 500-mile range Lucid, but it doesn't fit my lifestyle very well. Certainly I have considered getting a Lucid Air GT. Actually, I have my eyes on the Rivian R1T Tri-motor Max Pack. It will probably be my next vehicle, but it would not even be a consideration without the much bigger battery and much better range as compared with my MME. Range matters a lot to me, and to your friends apparently.

 

[Mike G]

I think that for some of us in isolated areas, this may be the end of anything resembling substantial EV sales. The dealer out here begrudgingly cooperated with the various EV Dealership requirements and was significantly late on all steps along the way. I anticipate them quietly dropping EV service while continuing to sell occasionally (most Ford EVs are out-of-state sales here) until the lack of service catches up with them, and surprises 100% of the out-of-state buyers.

Puurrrzackly.

 

[dbsb3233]

I will say that personally I desperately want a 500-mile range MME.

Batteries are so expensive that it would probably have to be $90k+ though. Which is why it doesn't exist. Battery energy density has to double and prices per kWh cut in half before we see something like that. Which could still be 5-10 years off.

That's why Ford is being forced to go in the opposite direction for Gen2 - smaller, lighter, cheaper, which surely means limited range too.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Batteries are so expensive that it would probably have to be $90k+ though. Which is why it doesn't exist. Battery energy density has to double and prices per kWh cut in half before we see something like that. Which could still be 5-10 years off.

That's why Ford is being forced to go in the opposite direction for Gen2 - smaller, lighter, cheaper, which surely means limited range too.

Limited range will limit sskes. It’s a fools errand, people want both.

 

[dbsb3233]

Limited range will limit sskes. It’s a fools errand, people want both.

Which is why ICE and hybrid will continue to dominate market share for years to come. The "EV revolution" will be slow and gradual, not a tsunami.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Which is why ICE and hybrid will continue to dominate market share for years to come. The "EV revolution" will be slow and gradual, not a tsunami.

There is no revolution. I do not, however, disagree with your timeline viewpoint.

 

[Guss-E 2021]

I think that for some of us in isolated areas, this may be the end of anything resembling substantial EV sales. The dealer out here begrudgingly cooperated with the various EV Dealership requirements and was significantly late on all steps along the way. I anticipate them quietly dropping EV service while continuing to sell occasionally (most Ford EVs are out-of-state sales here) until the lack of service catches up with them, and surprises 100% of the out-of-state buyers.

Hawaii is closer to China than any other state ? (competition). Just sayin'

I'm mostly kidding.

 

[llinthicum1]

The dealer business model is still broken. Buying experience needs to change. That was the one thing I liked about the Dealer Model e program, customers could order the vehicle of their choice for a pre-determined price. I was hoping that type of sales process would extend to ICE vehicles. Spending hours and hours at a dealership to buy a vehicle is simply not fun under the current process.

 

[Thunderanger]

Oh boy. So our two dealerships within an hours drive will get to continue to offer service to our EV while not having a clue what they are doing. It was, and continues to be, embarrassing how little they knew/know about EV's when I bought our MME.

 

[dbsb3233]

Oh boy. So our two dealerships within an hours drive will get to continue to offer service to our EV while not having a clue what they are doing. It was, and continues to be, embarrassing how little they knew/know about EV's when I bought our MME.

They still have to be EV certified to do service on EVs. What Model e did was make fewer of them certified, by forcing many dealers to opt out altogether when Ford threatened to cut off their allocations if they didn't install costly DCFC.

One of those "Be careful what you wish for" things.

 

[Zekester]

That would suggest that a dealership would never install a DCFC unless they were required to.
Would there never be a dealership that sincerely desired to sell and service EV's, that also felt owning a DCFC was a legitimate part of the equation?

My dealership would have had to spend 3 million dollars to install a DCFC charger. That kind of power does not exist on their side of town, and the power company wasn’t about to route it to them for free. As a result, they passed on the certified EV program, sold off their EV inventory and stop carrying that product. I’ll be curious to see what they do now.

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