Ford said more than 800 of its dealers will provide over 3,000 electric-vehicle chargers to the public, whether they’re Ford drivers or not.
The direct-current, or DC, fast chargers will be provided by either Ford’s newly launched charging network, Ford Charge, or by other providers of the dealers’ choice.
Far from marginalizing EV production as U.S. adoption is poised to slow in the face of federal government incentive pullbacks, Ford has been announcing new investments in the segment, including an assembly line redesign for EVs it announced this month that was conceived by a new California-based engineering team.
Ford said Ford Charge, which it launched last week, will provide almost 1,200 of the ports via more than 320 of its dealerships in the U.S. and Canada. The chargers provide access within 18 miles of most U.S. highways, the Detroit-area automaker said. Drivers can find them through Ford’s BlueOval Charge Network mobile application, as well as the PlugShare and Shell apps.
The chargers come with round-the-clock live call center support, Ford said.
At least one dealer who initially resisted the idea of adding chargers at his store said he’s glad he did so. Jim Seavitt, dealer principal of Village Ford in Dearborn, Mich., home of Ford’s headquarters, said some charging port users browse his vehicle stock. A local bagel maker has a shop inside the dealership’s service department where they can also fuel themselves.
Seavitt said that after expenses to install and operate the chargers, the infrastructure could pay for itself in as few as five years.
“For any Ford dealers in a city or high-traffic area who are on the fence about installing electric vehicle chargers, let me give you my two cents: Do it,” he said in a company press release on Ford’s new network.
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