Only around a half of the Ford dealerships in the United States are willing to continue selling electric cars in 2024, Detroit Free Press reports pointing out the sharp plunge that the EV enthusiasm has taken since the last year. Many sellers simply don’t regard the EV market as a profitable one and refuse to invest in retrofitting their showrooms for EVs.
DFP points out that just a year ago, Ford drew up a list of dealerships included in its list of certified EV sellers. It included a whopping 1,920 outlets – nearly two-thirds of the total number of dealerships operating nationwide. But rather than growing, this number has shrunk to roughly 1,500 outlets by the end of 2023. It looks like the diminishing customer interest towards battery-powered Ford cars has forced the store owners to reconsider their plans moving forward.
This wasn’t the only culprit, though. Obtaining a license to sell EVs costs between $500,000 and $1,000,000. Dealerships must upgrade their service departments, train staff accordingly, and install the mandatory charging terminals. According to Ford, the EV charging infrastructure is still fairly weak in the USA, and this means that drivers must at least be confident that they can drop into a dealership to top up their batteries.
Despite this news, Ford stays optimistic about the prospects of electric transports. According to the company’s calculations, 86% or all American drivers live within a 30-km (18-mile) radius from a Ford dealership. As for the showrooms refusing to invest into electrification just yet, they are most likely waiting for the local customer base to become more open to the idea of driving EVs.