According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), an auto dealer trade group, franchisees are expected to spend $5.5 billion on new infrastructure to sell electric vehicles. .
According to NADA’s press release, this estimate is “based on available data from a number of brands”. Some automakers have asked dealers to invest in chargers and other upgrades in order to sell electric vehicles, but NADA didn’t break down its overall estimates by brand or specify how long it will cost. pepper.
According to the group, individual brands are asking dealers to invest between $100,000 and $1 million, and costs “do not necessarily include the purchase of specialized equipment required to maintain electric vehicles or the cost of additions from local utilities to extend new power lines or add transformers”. to support EV charging.
Over time, dealership franchises have become a backbone of the regional and small-town economies. According to NADA, there are 16,773 franchisees in the United States today, and they create nearly 2.3 million jobs, paying an average of nearly $89,000 annually.
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To set the range of the $5.5 billion estimate cited by NADA, the 2021 federal infrastructure bill commits $7.5 billion for a nationwide network of 500,000 EV chargers. Such construction represents more than three times the number of charging stations nationwide when the bill is passed in November 2021.
Most automakers have set charging hardware requirements for dealers. When electric cars began to appear with lackluster demand, then became hot items, dealers have mostly passed the upgrade versus obsolescence debate.
That has opened up some of the divides between brands — with electric vehicles offered at prices More Kia dealers than Hyundai storesfor example, because Kia got its dealers ready and imposed its charger hardware requirements earlier. NADA has nudge its agents to talk about charging—and that might also encourage some of these initiatives directly from dealers.
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In some cases, automakers are making requirements beyond charging investment fees. General Motors has find its dealers to deploy target chargers in the community, while also paying some bills, but has also asked the Buick and Cadillac franchisees to commit to selling only electric vehicles for the foreseeable future. Those who did not board the train have been provided repurchase.
Ford dealers will no longer be able to mark EV or bargain on price starting in early 2024. With a part of the relationship where buyers aren’t abandoned, Ford is betting that will lead to greater loyalty to dealers.
