Ford leans into electrification with charger offer

Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ford has launched a bundled solution that includes complimentary EV chargers with a subscription to Ford Pro’s charging software. 

Ford Pro, the automaker’s commercial vehicle management division, is bundling Ford Pro Level 2 48-amp chargers and Level 2 80-amp chargers for depot and workplace charging with subscriptions to its charging software, Aaron Schneider, business development director at Ford Pro, told Equipment Finance News. The bundle aims to ease the electrification process for customers. 

“The intention is to reduce the complexity of EV adoption, lower upfront cost and then optimize ongoing operations for our commercial customers, so [with] the offer itself, customers will get a free charger … that includes out-of-the-box parts and labor warranty for three years for that charger,” he said. “The ballpark cost there is like $1,500 to $2,000 per charger just in terms of the value plus the warranty.” 

For dealerships, fleets and other businesses looking to match the number of chargers to the number of EVs on the lot, $2,000 in savings per charger adds up, Schneider said. Ford initially tested this bundled solution in Massachusetts, with the bundle now available there and in California. 

The Ford Pro chargers work with EVs such as the Ford F150 Lightning, E-transit and Mach-E, and customers with mixed fleets can use the chargers on non-Ford units, Schneider said. 

“Many of our customers run mixed fleets,” he said. “They may have Fords, they may have other auto manufacturers, other vehicles in their fleets, and this solution, if they’re buying some other stuff to go with their fleet, they can take advantage of this offer. If they were buying 50 Fords and 10 of something else, and they needed 60 chargers, we would still provide them this offer for all 60 chargers.” 

Ford Pro Charging software

While the chargers will be free under the program, customers must buy Ford Pro’s charging software, Schneider said. 

The software comes with a system to help manage commercial vehicle charging in states like California, where the grid remains a concern and rolling blackouts can occur, Schneider said. 

“Ford is investing time resources and is committed to not just taking care of our customers, but also taking care of our stakeholders on the fueling side, which is the power industry.” 

Potential alignment with CaaS

The structure of Ford Pro’s charging bundle also opens the door for charging-as-a-service companies to become Ford customers to make charging infrastructure more accessible, Scheider said. 

“There’s a lot of players within equipment finance who may look at this as pretty interesting in the sense that if they are offering charging as a service to their end customers, they could buy this offer from us and it would reduce their initial capex on the project,” he said. “Whatever they’re structuring their charging as a service deal to their end customers, that price would go down … somebody could take advantage of that and offer that to end customers, and we’d be happy to support that, because our interests are aligned.” 

Ultimately, every company operating in the EV space shares the goal of solving the infrastructure problem, Scheider said, adding that Ford Pro is “doing everything we can” to remove that barrier to adoption. 

“These fleets, especially in California, they’ve got a lot of a lot of mandates … to go electric, so any way we can take a bite out of cost for them, it’s going to help them and that’s what we’re doing here,” he said. 

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