Ford Pro DC fast charger Ford now has one of the largest DC fast-charging networks in the United States thanks to its recently announced EV dealer network.
Ford announced that 66 percent of its dealerships will participate in the Model e program to sell electric vehicles, and we brought you the news.
As a result, until at least 2027, when Ford re-establishes its Model e dealer network, a third of its dealerships won’t be able to sell electric vehicles.
Whether or not the agreement of two-thirds of Ford’s US dealers to Ford’s plans is a good rate is a point of contention, but the deal’s less lauded result is that Ford will gain access to one of the largest DC fast-charging networks in the US.
The number of Ford dealerships in the US is 1,920, with 1,620 being roughly two-thirds of the total. From a purely geographical perspective, Ford’s network would be the largest DC fast-charging network in the United States.
As a comparison, EV go has over 850 stations, Electrify America has over 800 stations, and Tesla has just over 1,500 Superchargers in the United States.
It’s important to note that the number of charging stations is not the only or even the most useful metric for evaluating charging infrastructure.
However, most charging networks only deploy a small number of chargers at each station, with the exception of Tesla and a few more recent Electrify America stations. There is no exception to this rule for Ford’s dealer charging network. Becoming a Model e dealer necessitates the purchase of either one or two DC fast chargers, with the former being necessary for the “Certified” tier and the latter for the “Certified Elite” tier.
The good news is that 1,659 of the 1,920 dealers who will support Model e will be “Certified Elite” level. Thus, Ford dealerships across the United States will manage a charging network with more than 3,500 fast chargers.
Analysis by Electrek
That’s significant, though it does come with a few restrictions. Unfortunately, there is only one charger per location, and the spots themselves aren’t great.
All of them are located at car dealerships, some of which are in convenient areas for charging due to nearby services, while others are in “dealership rows” that are less than ideal.
Even so, they will be an improvement over the current situation, especially in the south and the midwest, where there are currently no CCS charging options.
Some people might not think it’s important to buy just one or two DC fast chargers, but I think it’s great that the people who bought them made such a big commitment.
