Ford targets EV ‘fence-sitters’ with offer of free home charger and installation

Ford targets EV ‘fence-sitters’ with offer of free home charger and installation

Image: Ford

For customers still unsure whether they’re ready to make the switch to an all-electric vehicle, Ford is sweetening the pot.

Today, the company launched a new initiative called the “Ford Power Promise,” in which it will provide a suite of benefits to customers who buy or lease a new EV. And chief among them is a complimentary home charger for all new customers, as well as the costs of standard installation.

The charger that’s being offered is the company’s Ford Charge Station Pro, a $1,310 Level 2 charger that comes with a standard CCS1 connector. Ford declined to put a monetary value on the installation but said it would cover costs up to 60 amps of power and 80 feet of wire run. Customers who need to upgrade their home electrical panel before the installation, however, will need to cover those costs themselves.

Ford’s free charger and installation offer starts October 1st and extends through the end of the year. It will only be available to customers who buy or lease a new EV during that time period. For customers who buy or lease a new EV but already have a home charger installed, Ford will provide them with the cash equivalent of $2,000.

“We’re the only ones doing this,” said Becca Anderson, senior director of customer experience at Ford’s Model e division. “This means less stress and more convenience for our customers, making their home charging set-up up easy.”

“We’re the only ones doing this”

Like most automakers, Ford is struggling to get more customers to consider switching to electric. Even though the company is the number two seller of EVs in the US, behind Tesla, and its EV sales continue to grow, the company is still confronting a lot of headwinds in the form of myths and misconceptions about EV ownership.

“We have a lot of customers open to electric,” said Martin Delonis, senior manager of strategy at Ford Model e, “but they’re sitting on the fence.”

According to market research conducted by Ford and Boston Consulting Group, these so-called “fence-sitters” say they are worried about things like EV range, battery health, and the overall cost of ownership. But they’re also motivated by “quality and convenience,” which aligns then more closely with gas and hybrid shoppers as opposed to early adopters.

“We’ve done the research and found that it’s not range anxiety we’re dealing with,” Delonis added. “It’s change anxiety.”

Most customers overestimate how much range they’ll need in a vehicle, just as they often fail to see the benefits of charging a vehicle at home. They assume they’ll need to use public chargers more often than they do. And they falsely believe that the battery will wear out before the vehicle’s end-of-life.

“Change anxiety”

To help ease their concerns, Ford is upping the ante with new benefits, like a free home charger, and some old ones that customers may not be aware of. Ford said it will now offer 24/7 call and text support for all EV owners who may have questions or concerns about their new purchase. The company is also highlighting a preexisting eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty for the battery of the vehicle.

And to address unease around charging, Ford is emphasizing its Blue Oval Charging Network, which includes a number of third-party charging providers, as well as the Tesla Supercharger network. Ford has been racing to get Tesla adapters to its EV customers so they can access Superchargers across the country. Ford is “ramping up production” of the adapters after some initial delays over the summer, Delonis said.

While Ford has seen its EV sales grow quarter over quarter, the company is still struggling to rein in costs. The company reported a $1.3 billion loss for its Model e EV division in the first quarter of 2024 and a $1.1 billion loss in the second quarter. It also canceled a planned three-row electric SUV and delayed a new electric truck until 2027.