With changes expected to Ford’s electric vehicle certification program, all Ford dealers will likely be able to sell EVs. Ford is reportedly preparing to open the program amid feedback from its dealers.

Ford poised to open dealers network to sell EVs

After asking dealers to pause EV investments this week, Ford is finalizing changes to the program. Ford already eased requirements last year due to “changes in the market.”

Ford spokesperson Marty Gunsberg confirmed that several dealers opted out of the program this past December. Gunsberg said, “Enrollments for 2024 are just over 50% of the network.” That’s down from about two-thirds confirmed by CEO Jim Farley a year prior.

According to Automotive News, after a series of meetings between dealers and executives, Ford is now preparing to allow all dealers to sell EVs.

Ford is expected to update the financial requirements needed to qualify. Previously, dealers were required to invest at least $500,000 to enroll in the program. For $1.2 million, dealers could be eligible for the “Elite” tier, which included additional chargers, demo units, and a presence on Ford.com.

If dealers didn’t want to invest, they couldn’t sell Ford EVs. Ford’s vice president of EV programs, Lisa Drake, said the company no longer believes having select dealers sell EVs is the right plan.

More dealers want in but with less financial commitment

“What we’re finding is more dealers want to be involved in it and we don’t want to be exclusive to just a handful,” Drake said. “And so we’re making a change where we’re opening up that and not requiring as many certifications or investments for a dealer to participate in the EV revolution.”

Meanwhile, the changes will not be finalized until early June, when Ford meets with its dealer council.

It’s unclear how much Ford will reduce financial requirements to sell EVs, but many believe it will be drastically relaxed to promote participation.

Drake said Ford will be “more ubiquitous with our training and make sure essentially all of our dealers are equipped to sell them” going forward. Ford will need to figure out how to deal with those who have already made investments at the upcoming dealer council meeting.

Ford slashed prices on its popular Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning in recent months to boost sales.

After cutting Mach-E prices by up to $8,100 earlier this year, Ford introduced a new 0% APR offer on 2024 models this week.

Ford also introduced new discounts on the 2023 F-150 Lightning this week, offering up to $15,000 off MSRP. F-150 Lightning lease prices were cut by over $400 a month.

If you’re in the market for a new EV, now’s the time to start shopping. You can use our links below to find deals on Ford’s electric vehicles at a dealer near you.

On the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Fred’s Tesla Cybertruck first driving impressions, Kia EV3, Chevy Silverado EV RST and more.

Today’s episode is sponsored by Momentum, a new brand of lifestyle e-bikes from Giant Group designed to deliver a full range of innovative electric, hybrid and city bikes with premium features, long assist ranges and sensor technologies that offer natural riding experiences that are both energy saving and fun.

Sponsored by SplitVolt: The Splitvolt Splitter Switch automatically shares power from your existing 240V dryer socket with your Level 2 EV charger. Learn more here.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):

The US Joint Office of Energy and Transportation’s Q2 2024 update reveals a surge in public EV charging ports. Here’s the scoop.

Public EV charging ports are mushrooming

The Joint Office reports that there are now more than 183,000 Level 2 and DC fast charging ports across the US – that’s an increase of more than 13,000 public EV charging ports in the last quarter. (If we only count DC fast chargers, there are 43,152 charging ports and 10,662 locations.)

That puts the US at over a third of the way to reaching the Biden administration’s goal of 500,000 public ports by 2030.

As for the Q2 update on how the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program rollout is going, there are now eight NEVI DC fast charging stations in six states and 33 public charging ports in operation.

Thirty-six states have released at least their first round of NEVI solicitations. Of these states, 23 have issued conditional awards or established agreements for more than 550 charging station locations, each with at least four fast charging ports. And four states – Maine, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Ohio – are already in Round 2 of releasing conditional awards.

And yesterday, Wisconsin became the first state to award funding to Tribal Nations for NEVI charging stations. 

Electrek’s Take

To my delight, DC fast chargers are popping up all around me. There’s a brand-new 250 kW Tesla Supercharger with 12 ports in Salem, New Hampshire, which is a huge help when we drive back from Boston, and a Rivian DC fast charger station just opened up five miles away. In April, Vermont trailblazed with its first NEVI charging station with four ports in Bradford. If you’re seeing similar EV charger rollouts in your area, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

There’s been press coverage in the mainstream media about how slow the NEVI rollout is, but as I’ve said before, there’s an enormous amount of groundwork that needs to be completed before these EV stations come online.

The federal and state governments are creating EV Alternative Fuel Corridors – that’s unprecedented. Everyone has started from scratch. Plus, they need to get it right because the chargers must be operational 97% of the time to qualify for NEVI funding. (Fun fact: Tesla has won the highest percentage of NEVI charging awards of any company. So I’m wondering how that’s going to work since the Supercharger team was fired.)

It may not look like the NEVI program “duck” is doing much on the surface, but it’s paddling furiously underwater. NEVI chargers will suddenly start popping up everywhere.

Read more: Here’s how the US can make EV road trips seamless

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