- Ford Pro's new Electric Vehicle Incentive Consultation Service helps commercial customers discover rebates, tax credits and more.
- It navigates the world of federal and regional incentives.
Buying an electric vehicle is pretty straightforward. Navigating the world of incentives for vehicle and charging equipment purchases, however, is anything but straightforward. This is particularly true for commercial vehicles, where rebates are sometimes far more generous compared to what is available for individual buyers.
To make it a little easier for EV customers to get the most out of the available state and local incentives, Ford Pro has launched a new Electric Vehicle Incentive Consultation Service. As its name suggests, it offers buyers a list of all the incentives that they may be eligible for when purchasing a new Ford commercial electric vehicle based on their location. Rebates and tax credits for charging equipment are also included in the service.
It doesn’t sound like much, but the numbers are convincing. According to Ford Pro, during the short time since its launch, the service has helped customers discover over $1.5 million in available incentives for EV purchases. Beyond that, the program dug up another $40,000 for charging incentives.
That’s great news for any company, and more so for small organizations that may not have the resources to track down all the overlapping federal tax credits, state grants and utility rebates. After surveying over 1,200 fleet decision-makers, Ford Pro discovered that only 46% of businesses had applied for government-funded rebates and incentives. Meanwhile, just 21% had sought government grants for EV purchases.
In the case of a South Carolina in-home healthcare provider, Ford Pro’s consultation service helped it discover enough incentives to cover the full cost of installing a $25,000 DC fast charger for its growing EV fleet.
An Illinois community college that purchased a Ford F-150 Lightning as a campus patrol vehicle used Ford Pro’s expertise to get a free charger. The program also produced an $8,000 rebate that covered the entire cost of installing the charger, and a $7,500 EV incentive applied at the point of sale.
“The rebate we were eligible for was proactively added upfront to our quote,” said Deputy Chief Tracy Williams from the Joliet Junior College Police Department. “This service was a significant help to our small department, allowing us to allocate resources more effectively and reduce the initial outlay.”
Besides the Electric Vehicle Incentive Consultation Service, Ford Pro offers several other services for organizations that are looking to grow their electric vehicle fleet, including something called the E-Switch Assist tool. Using advanced algorithms developed by the Ford Pro data science team, the tool analyzes which combustion vehicles in the organization’s fleet could be replaced by an electric alternative.
The software accounts for distance driven, cargo load, vehicle efficiency, terrain, driver-specific behavior, outside temperatures and cabin heating load. It also estimates how many times a suitable EV would need to be charged during a day, with the end goal being a reduction in running costs.
