As sales of battery-powered cars cool amid stubbornly high prices, many Ford dealers aren't willing to take the leap and invest in selling them. Just over half of Ford's nearly 3,000 dealerships in the U.S. have opted out of the investments necessary to sell electric vehicles like the F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-e, the Detroit Free Press first reported and Ford confirmed. Instead, some dealers will stick to traditional combustion engines and hybrids, which are soaring in popularity as Americans flirt with lowering their gas costs without taking the full leap.

"EV adoption rates vary across the country," a Ford spokesperson told Business Insider. "As dealers have completed their own due diligence in their local markets, dealer enrollments for 2024 entry have stabilized at just over 50% of the network (around 1,550 dealers). This enrollment level places 86% of the population within 20 miles of a Ford dealership capable of selling and servicing a Ford EV."

Part of dealers' trepidation could be in response to the massive investments the automaker has required of its dealers to sell electric cars, including DC fast-chargers allowing each sales lot to double as a charging location for owners, and other training for staff. The certification programs can cost upwards of $1 million and landed Ford in several lawsuits. In one case, an Illinois board ruled in favor of a dealership group that claimed Ford's program violated state laws, the Chicago Tribune reported. Ford plans to appeal the decision.

Ford dealers were among the first to raise alarm bells on waning electric vehicle demand earlier this year when some stores started turning down Mustang Mach-E allocations. Later in the year, some Ford dealers told Business Insider they were struggling to fill orders for the Lightning.

Earlier in December, Ford scaled back production of the electric F-150 Lightning after temporarily cutting a shift of production in October. The company sold 16,000 electric trucks in the first nine months of 2023, a tiny fraction of the roughly 570,000 F-series vehicles it has sold in the same period. The automaker has also postponed a $12 billion investment in EV manufacturing amid the sales slowdown. Ford's relationship with dealers has taken a hit since the company started enforcing the new EV requirements. The company came in dead last in a recent survey of dealers' trust in their franchises, with 46% of Ford dealers saying they had "no trust" in the franchise.

Source: Business Insider