It’s the National Auto Dealers Association show this week and luckily it’s being held in the one place that’ll never have to deal with massive amounts of snow in January: New Orleans. Taps earpiece. I’ve been informed that New Orleans is now a giant, boozy snow globe.
The Morning Dump is going to start in the Big Easy, where some dealers are gathered. You don’t need a reason to party in New Orleans, but if you’re a Ford dealer there are up to 240,000 reasons to celebrate as that’s the much Ford might reimburse you if you installed EV chargers in the company’s push to be an electric brand.
While the company might be slowing its EV ambitions, it’s still one of the biggest sellers of electric cars in this country, even if the United States isn’t expanding in the EV market at quite the rate that many automakers had hoped. Where else might EVs work? India, here we come.
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Ford Reimbursing Dealers Up To $240,000 For Aborted EV Expansion Plans
The early 2020s were a wild time. COVID was all the rage. Taylor Swift fans were mad at Jake Gyllenhaal. Many of the biggest car companies, looking at Tesla’s growth, assumed they’d be selling millions of EVs as soon as they put them on the market.
In order to prepare for this, Ford created its Model e dealership certification program. There were two levels: Model e Certified Elite and Model e Certified, with the Elite plan requiring a huge investment in public chargers and service and the non-Elite plan requiring a smaller investment. If dealers didn’t agree to this plan they’d be unable to get new electric cars and trucks to sell.
Here’s a Detroit Free Press article outlining how many dealers had voluntarily enrolled in the initial version of the program as of December 2022 — about 1,920 of Ford’s approximately 3,000 dealers. As soon as it became clear that not everyone was going to be able to find Tesla-like performance, especially amid a price war, dealers joined much of the rest of the industry in trying to figure out what to do next.
By December 2023 the number of interested dealers dropped to about half, and many other dealers and dealer groups sued Ford stating that it was an unreasonable and discriminatory form of distribution that violated their franchise agreement.
Ford eventually relented and canceled the program. Here’s what the company said at the time of canceling, via CNBC:
“The world has changed,” Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s Model E electric vehicle business, said Thursday during a media briefing. “The growth has slowed down.”
Gjaja said the Model e Dealership Program, which included about half of Ford’s 2,800 U.S. dealers, “is being sunset” as the market undergoes changing conditions and amid conversations with dealers. The company had faced lawsuits from dealers over the program.
Instead, Ford will open EV sales to all of its dealers in an attempt to grow sales of its all-electric cars and trucks.
What about the dealers who started the program? According to Automotive News, they’re going to get a nice little reimbursement:
One option, according to a bulletin sent to retailers and obtained by Automotive News, would give dealers $10,000 per Level 3 charger installed plus $2,000 per EV retailed through 2026, up to a maximum of $80,000 for each charger. For dealers who asked for more time to sell EVs, Ford added the option of taking $1,750 per vehicle retailed through 2027, with the same $80,000 maximum per charger.
Both options would pay out up to $240,000 because Ford had required dealers to install as many as three Level 3 chargers.
A third option would give dealers immediate payments of $40,000 per Level 3 charger installed, up to $120,000. This option would not include any money back for each EV sold but might be better for smaller, rural dealerships that don’t anticipate selling many EVs in the next few years and want the money faster.
That’s not bad. Also, my guess is that many of the dealers who really ramped up probably serve a market (like, say, Southern California’s Galpin Ford) that has a lot of EV customers and can use this money, potentially, to improve charging capabilities and training. Will this encourage David to buy more i3s or busted Leafs?
NADA Update: ‘The Good News Is The Party Is Still Going On, And There Will Be Plenty Of Booze’
The nation’s auto dealers were supposed to all descend on New Orleans this week for the big annual conference, in what I’m sure was to be the kind of teetotaling and restrained businesslike atmosphere that the city is known for. Instead, a freak historic snowstorm shut down the airport, and now dealers who didn’t get in early or can’t drive are stuck at home.
This is a bummer, as Automotive News reports:
A pre-NADA Show private party hosted by five industry vendors was impacted by the weather. The caterer for the Jan. 22 event canceled, leaving hosts to figure out how to feed guests.
”We’re looking at pizza places, restaurants to order from,” said Laurie Halter of Charisma! Communications, one of the hosts. “The good news is the party is still going on, and there will be plenty of booze.”
Two beignets and four hurricanes is roughly the average diet of a New Orleans tourist, so I’m glad the people who are there are at least having some fun.
These Five Cars Made Up More Than Half Of EV Sales Last December
Now that we’ve got a full read on December sales and, perhaps more importantly, a sense of the new White House’s plans for electric cars, we can dive deeper into the data.
According to Cox Automotive’s latest numbers, just five cars made up about 54% of all EV sales in December:
- Tesla Model Y
- Tesla Model 3
- Honda Prologue
- Ford Mustang Mach-E
- Chevrolet Equinox EV
Obviously, most of those sales are of the two Teslas, but so far the Prologue has been a big seller and I’ve been impressed with how it’s already outflanked its GM platform-mates. There’s been so much demand lately for EVs that supply has stabilized a bit and prices are even going up. From Cox:
In December, the average transaction price for new electric vehicles was $55,544, marking a 1.1% increase from the previous month and a 0.8% rise from the previous year. EV incentives were equal to 14.3% of the ATP last month, which was lower than in November when EV incentives were equal to 14.7%. In December, the ATP for a new EV was $6,274 higher than the ICE+ ATP ($49,270), the second-lowest premium in 2024. The top five most affordable EVs in December were the Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Hyundai Kona, Kia Niro and Chevrolet Equinox.
If Congress moves to remove the tax credit I suspect we’ll see a big rush of sales at the last minute.
Is India The Next Big EV Market?
It’s not just NADA this week, it’s also the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 in India. This is the third biggest market after China and the United States, so automakers that are having trouble moving electric cars in other places are eyeing a future there.
Electric cars are all the rage at the Bharat Expo, which is India’s biggest car show.
India is starting from a low point. While electric car sales have surged — a 55-fold jump in six years — even an 18% year-on-year increase in the 12 months to December 2024 only took the world’s most populous nation to 113,715 vehicles, according to BloombergNEF. Falling battery costs and new models mean that number is likely to overtake traditional cars, but only by 2039.
Viewed one way, that’s not great, but viewed another way it just means there’s a lot of room for growth. At the show were representatives of European, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese brands. Many of these companies were showing electric cars, albeit of the lower-cost variety.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
In honor of all those who made it to New Orleans, here’s The Simpsons doing a musical version of A Streetcar Named Desire. “Oh, Streetcar!”
The Big Question
If you bought an EV, which did you buy? If you were forced to buy an EV, what would you get?
I’m taking you literally and picking from electric *vehicles*, not just electric cars. And if whoever is forcing me to buy one is paying (and they should) I’ll take a BMW CE04. It’s a pretty amazing vehicle, but pricey.
So if I’m spending my own money, I’ll take a NIU MQi GT.
If I were forced to buy an EV, it would be the Ioniq 6. It’s a knockout.
As soon as I read Bharat Expo, my brain said
“Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
Matt was prophetic calling 2024 the year of the hybrid, I don’t think any special insight is required to already call 2025 the year of the absurd.
I bought a CPO 2023 Volvo C40 Ultimate with only 1k miles in July. It was 45% off MSRP. I’m very happy with purchase.
The depreciation on the Volvo EV’s is crazy you can get a fully loaded used XC/C40 or Polestar 2 for cheaper then used Ev6’s or Ioniq 5’s. I debated on one of those before settling with a Miata (fiance still has concerns about EV’s also)
We were looking for that exact car (ideally in blue) in December but they seemed to have all dried up in our area unfortunately. Ended up with a ZDX lease instead and hoping Volvo had a EV wagon ready for us in 3 years.
that’s what I have, with blue interior too 🙂
I was super close to buying an Equinox EV. I ordered it, but it somehow got delayed after it was built and I had some time to really consider it. If it had arrived quickly, I would have probably been fine with it, but it just didn’t wow me. I like Android Auto on my phone, not an integrated system that will require a data plan for my car, so all the little things beyond that problem felt like a bridge too far.
If companies would put in physical controls for things like drive mode and HVAC, I’d consider a lot more. The Mach E is nice, but I cannot abide all the controls on the screen. I drove an EV6 for a few weeks and could probably get used to the dual-use knobs, except that I had some bad experiences with Kia service and wanted to get away from them.
I found a heck of a deal on a former lemon Lyriq and might have jumped if it had been closer, but I didn’t really want them to ship it cross-country only for me to find it still had problems.
Instead of any of those, I’m in a RAV4 Prime for the time being. Good enough for my use, but I do feel like I could have been in a full EV if only I had found the right one.
We’ve got a 2019 Kia Niro EV and a 2016 i3. The Niro is for commuting and road trips and the i3 is for around town/backup. I bought in fall of 2023 for the former and fall of 2024 for the latter and got a lot of incentives so they were $13k and $2k. I kinda wish I had held out and not bought the Niro, because by mid-2024 used EV6 prices had almost dropped to what the headline price on the Niro was. I would really appreciate the heat pump and
20 minute charging.
Many people are so concerned about range and I think it’s overblown if you can set up charging at home. If you compare the amount of time in a year you spend stopping for gas and getting/doing oil changes, that offsets most if not all the time spent charging for a normal amount of road trips. If you regularly drive across the country then it’s a different story.
This website has repeatedly stated, but most Americans are obsessed with edge cases and it’s to our detriment. Most people could buy a cheap EV and save more than enough money to rent the minivan to drive to Florida.
I have a coworker who owns a home commutes about 100 miles round trip every day in a CX-5. That’s 2-3 gas stops per week at 5 minutes each and 4 oil changes per year at an hour each(she has been going to the dealer so it is more like 4 hours each but we just taught her how to change her own oil). That’s 16 hours per year spent on those activities and $4000 a year. Electric would cut that down to $1800 a year and she would only spend time charging if she takes road trips. You can take a hell of a lot of road trips and not spend 16 hours charging. But when we talk about it she is concerned about having to stop once on her way to Sacramento…
So much this. No oil changes is an under-appreciated luxury. It saves $150-200 a year going at quick lube prices. A lot of time saved for DIY.
I think the key difference in time savings is you can get gas or do an oil change at your convenience, so you can schedule it, while you have to recharge at a certain point. Stopping 5 minutes for gas is a lot more easier spur of the moment than stopping for 20-30 minutes at a minimum to recharge.
1980 Comuta Car 72 Volt conversion, 21 HP motor swap, most fun car to drift in the snow that I’ve ever driven!
If I had to buy a new one I’d get one of the new production Peel P50 Electric variants.
If the rental I am at currently was wheelchair accessible I’d already have one as an in town runabout, sadly it isn’t and I don’t want to park the Peel outside my house.
XBus doublecab off-road. Alas, never reached production. RIP.
Sized similar to the 1960s VW van, that had far more appeal to me than the $65K+ ID.Buzz.
I don’t need size, don’t need speed. Just need ~150 miles range and a heater. Air would be nice too but not a deal killer. Really liked the spartan interior in the pre-production version.
LVL3 chargers go for a lot more than $80K new, and the ones that were installed use a dying charging standard. Way to go Ford…
I appreciate Ford to make dealers install DC Fast Chargers. Before that, there was only one close by. Now with this “rule”, I have 3 more thanks to Ford Dealerships stepping up their game. GM dealers have zero around me and I drive a Bolt EUV, Blazer EV and Equinox EV. I guess I should give Ford a try with their EVs.
The dealers don’t always make these available to the general public, so look into if they are before you jump onboard. I think my Buick dealer said they won’t allow the general public to use their charger.
The Ford dealer I could charge at conveniently tells people it is broken per Plugshare. I wouldn’t mind paying something reasonable to use it so when I visit my relatives I don’t need to drive way downtown to DCFC a little. Rarely need more than 20%-30% more to get back home across several rural counties and a charger desert.
Depends on which of our vehicles the EV replaces. My DD choice would be a Fiat 500e because of the attractive deals available. Mrs. OverlandingSprinter’s replacement might be a Prologue, and certainly not an Equinox because of GM’s insistence on a proprietary UI for its infotainment system. A Mach-E would be on the table, too.
When a Ford dealer told me how they were handling their EV sales it seemed almost counter-productive, at least in Canada. Only a limited of sales staff could handle them and they needed special training. I’m sure all of the other sales stuff loved that. Definitely wouldn’t discourage it so they wouldn’t lose their commission.
Anyway right now the next car is an Ioniq 6 and it’s just a matter of when.
If I had free choice and all the budget, I’d go with a Lucid Air Grand Touring. Realistically, a leased Hyundai Ioniq 6 limited. Really realistically, I’d forgo the tax credit and buy a used Kia EV6 Wind.
We bought a Q8 etron in October to compliment our Prius PHEV and Miata. Serious consideration given to the Ultium trio (intentionally excluding the Acura version from that counting) and the Mach-E as well.
The PHEV market options weren’t where we wanted it to be to consider another vehicle with ICE maintenance.
Why not the Acura? I’m impressed from what I can see via the web. Just don’t want to pay for it.
Personal taste about the roofline termination into the D-Pillar. I’m not a fan of the “floating roof” termination.
Wife really wanted the Q8 etron but after a test drive the lack of one pedal drive made it a no go. We ended up with a ZDX lease instead.
I read somewhere about OPD being the next manual vs. automatic debate.
I think there’s a setting buried in the menus that you can change and make a default setting change, but I really like that it’s manually controllable with the paddles behind the wheel.
If I had the money to buy new, it would be a Prologue or Lyriq. Currently daily a ’18 Bolt EV.
“Is India The Next Big EV Market?”
Definitely for the same reasons China became a big EV market… the country has a huge air pollution problem and they are a big oil importer.
“If you bought an EV, which did you buy?”
I came close to buying a used Tesla Model S last summer… but changed my mind once I got the crazy-high insurance quote… at least $2000/year more than the C-max I bought. And that was with shopping around for insurance.
” If you were forced to buy an EV, what would you get?”
I’d probably get either a Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Ford Mach E. Would also consider a Toyota/Subaru BZ/Solterra and Nissan Ariya if the price was right.
I won’t touch the GM or Chrysler BEVs until they get the bugs sorted after at least a couple of years of production.
And before buying any of them, I’d have to factor in the the insurance cost for each as part of my buying decision.
I hadn’t heard about the insurance disparity; did they say why? I’d guess repairability/total loss threshold?
Essentially on the C-Max or something like a Prius, my insurance is between CAD$1400-$1500/year.
For something like a Tesla Model S (even an older non-‘P’ one from 2014), it’s CAD$4000-$4500/year.
I researched it more and the cost of repairs wasn’t the main factor. And it definitely wasn’t theft as Teslas are some of the least stolen vehicles because they are so trackable.
I subsequently learned is it’s not just based on claims/loss data. It’s also has to do with the number of ‘incidents’ the type of driver attracted to the Model S has. It seems the Model S attracts a lot of hooligans who not only have more claims, but also get more tickets and stuff like that.
The only brand worse for this is Ram.
Wow, that’s a weird form of discrimination…but I guess if every teenager prompts a household insurance hike, this is the logical extension. “Based on your peer group, you are an idiot.”
If I’m being forced to get an EV it’s going to be the Ram REV with the 500 mile range.
You’re forcing me to buy it, I’m forcing them to build it.
Bought a F150 Lightning November 2023. It’s fantastic
If I was forced to buy an EV, I’m going for David’s busted Leaf because it would be cheap. If I had money and was going to buy an EV to actually drive, it would probably be a Lucid.
Bought a Leaf, with the used rebate and such it was very affordable.
The latest reports also have the affected dealers sticking Ford with $2999 for a 3 year extended warranty, $1299 for ceramic coating, $499 for VIN etching, and $249 for unlimited nitrogen fills.
As for being forced to buy an EV, it would have to be a Lucid as the only company taking range seriously, but I wouldn’t be happy about it.
Curious for some range loss updates from anyone who owns an EV in northern Minnesota or North Dakota this week where it hit -25 to -30.
It’s cold in CT too. I used an extra ~2-3kW (for just yesterday) over what I have been using while it has been cold out. My normal commute is 66.5 miles, and I use about 22-26kW, while yesterday I was at ~29. My heater is a 7kWh consumer.
I was shocked to see so many cars broken down on 91 this morning because of the cold.
I run down 84 to Danbury. There were a couple this morning, but not many. I’m also on the road between 6:15-7am.
Lots of people don’t pay enough attention to their cars.
My ’23 Lightning got 1m/kwh when the temps were single digits. Oof. Going 60mph in 2F creates a windchill of -30 or something.
I’ve been commuting in the single digits and low teens F at highway speeds. Definitely it’s using more energy. About 25 more watt-hours per mile than at freezing. Sitting outside at work it used 8-9% to keep itself warm. Compared to 5% at freezing and basically nothing once the temperature hits 50 F.
2024 Model Y AWD.
I’d love a Lucid Air Pure if my budget allowed it.
Blue with the cream interior please.
We’ve got an EV9 that averages about 2.5 mi/KWh in down to single digit weather while doing about 3.5 mi/KWh in more moderate weather. No idea what it would do in well below zero weather and I hope to never find out! (I’m in TN) Heating both the battery and the cabin is definitely a big energy hit, but most EVs seem to be pretty well insulated so once you have taken the energy hit to warm things up it’s not too bad keeping things warm. Still, once you drive an EV in the winter for a while you will appreciate the heck out of the (basically) unlimited waste heat in an ICE.
Ford also can’t leave the negotiation. Because the sales manager still has the keys for their trade-in.
I think we can all agree dealers suck major cocka-poo-poo-pee-pee-shire
“Here’s some things to sell – but you need to have the proper tools to support them in order to sell them, and this is how much it will cost to purchase them from us.”
“Not fair! You can’t make us!”
This is so incredibly dumb.
Right now, I’m leaning toward a Hyundai Ioniq 6
Tho if I won the lottery – I’d be ordering up a Monceau eSL.
Wow, that Monceau is cool, albeit pricey; I wonder if we’ll see a slew of reimagined knock-offs cropping up.
Everatti is already doing some great conversions of Pagoda SLs (for Hemmels), 911s, Land Rovers, Jaguars, RR’s, etc.
But since they’re all bespoke restoration/conversions – they are quite pricey indeed.
Oh man, I didn’t know this was a thing, but I’m here for it, not even close to being capable, but would if I could.
I mean I guess I’d buy an Ioniq 5 N if I HAD to. Seems like an easy enough transition. I wouldn’t buy an EV though. If I really wanted one I’d lease it.
We got a Bolt EUV. It has real buttons and I don’t have to use a screen to adjust the air vent direction. Simple pleasures.
Same (non EUV, though). It is the perfect EV right now.
Another Bolt here (I also have a 2018 Pacifica PHEV). I like the small car, it has plenty of range for the Northeast, and it’s pretty fun to drive.
We have a 2017 Bolt EV, which does what we need. Also a 2000 Ford Ranger Electric, that also does what we need with it’s 30-ish mile range.
If forced to buy one I’m thinking I’d actually get like a Kona EV, it’s very similar to the Bolt but I think seating is a bit more comfy. That and charge port is in the front which is such a great spot. Yes it’s more likely to take damage in a crash but it’s just the charge port not the charger, probably less to replace than the actual bumper.
I almost bought a Bolt a year ago, but my current car’s seats are nice and comfy and the Bolt’s seats were terrible and the plastic trim where the seat controls were was right in the way of my thigh’s normal motion to get into and out of the car. I’m not even a big person. I didn’t want to live with that discomfort. It was the main reason I didnt buy it.
Yeah I added padding to the driver seat and that helped a lot, but then I sat in a Kona at the local car show and was like dang, this just feels so much better.
If I were forced to get an EV, it’d either be an i3s ooooooooooooooor a Cadillac ELR