Beyond the Car Lot: How Dealerships Can Pave the Way for Electric Mobility
The electric vehicle (EV) revolution is reshaping the automotive industry, with US sales reaching 1.2 million vehicles last year. As EVs transition from niche to mainstream, dealerships find themselves at a critical juncture. While a new wave of potential buyers expresses concerns about EV costs, technology, and charging options, these challenges offer dealerships a chance to reinvent their role in the automotive ecosystem.?
To capitalize on the EV boom, dealerships should elevate the customer experience through education and tailored test drives, establish on-site charging infrastructure to attract and retain customers and transform their service departments to meet the unique needs of EV maintenance. By embracing these approaches, dealerships can address buyer hesitations, create new revenue streams, and position themselves as indispensable players in the e-mobility future.?
Enhancing the EV Customer Experience
First-time EV buyers often need more guidance, making education key to improving the sales process. Dealerships should start with an improved test drive approach, allowing customers to experience firsthand the differences between EVs and traditional vehicles. Sales representatives should be ready to explain unique EV features like regenerative braking, provide details on benefits such as lower operating costs and government incentives, and address common concerns.
Despite the rapid growth of EVs, fewer than half of dealers feel adequately prepared to sell them. As newer buyers seek more support than early adopters, dealerships can position themselves as trusted EV experts, building customer confidence and loyalty.
Investing in EV Charging Infrastructure
To fully embrace e-mobility, dealerships should invest in on-site charging infrastructure. This investment extends beyond simply supporting test drives and educating customers; it can create significant new revenue streams. By offering discounted charging services on the lot, dealerships can attract potential customers and strategically use charging time to showcase their latest EV models, service offerings, and EV incentives. This approach creates a mutually beneficial opportunity for sales interactions on the premises. Moreover, by providing charging services during off-hours at market price, dealerships can cater to daily drivers without home charging options and commercial fleets requiring overnight charging. This comprehensive strategy not only offsets initial investments but can potentially evolve into a profitable standalone business venture.
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Friendly Chevrolet in Dallas, Texas, has fully adopted this approach with its EVHQ Charge Park , offering fast-charging ports, 24/7 attendants, and a comprehensive service experience. The installation’s six-month usage statistics speak for themselves, with a remarkable 55% monthly revenue growth–surpassing $59,000/month in charging revenues–and station utilization nearing 40%. By implementing similar strategies, dealerships can position themselves as central hubs in the e-mobility ecosystem, enhancing customer experiences and creating new business opportunities.
Adapting Service Departments for EVs
EVs require less maintenance than traditional vehicles, posing a challenge to dealership service departments, which earned an average of $8.2 million in 2022. EV maintenance costs are about 15-20% lower than those of conventional cars, reducing incentives for dealership facility upgrades. However, 57% of EV owners still prefer dealership maintenance, highlighting an opportunity for dealerships to reskill their technicians and update facilities for EV servicing. By adapting their service departments, dealerships can reduce wait times, open new revenue channels, and increase customer trust in EV maintenance.
Leading the Charge in EV Adoption
By educating customers, offering charging infrastructure, and reskilling service teams, dealerships can meet the needs of today’s EV drivers and position themselves for long-term success in the e-mobility space.
To learn more about how dealerships can capitalize on the growing EV market, read the full blog here.
Founder of Yedidyah Foods Student at Obafemi Awolowo University
1 个月Insightful! Lots of revenue generating opportunities for car dealerships with EV's. However, I'm curious to ask, what are the possible risk for car dealerships created by their changing ecosystem?
Insightful Blog Bassem Ammouri. This provides a roadmap for automotive dealers (and emerging fleet owners) as to way the investment in EV infrastructure, (including on-site generation via microgrids) drives economic value and customer demand for EV vehicles. Keep the thought leadership coming.
VP Operations Strategy MS-FINA
2 个月Thanks for sharing Mr. Ammouri. A couple questions: One question from the dealership perspective, what the ROI at the Dallas dealership. Are they on track to hit the revenue targets forecasted to support the investment decision (both charging revenue and contribution revenue from service et al). I see the appeal from the dealership side (pending the answer above). What's the appeal from the consumer? Why would a consumer subject themselves to a unwanted dealership sale pitch vs finding Target/Walmart etc where he/she can knock out an errand while they charge?
Top-Performing B2B Tech Sales Leader | Expertise in Ad Tech, SaaS, and Real Estate Platforms | 15yr+ Client-Centric Advisor | 22yr+ Securities Investor | Former Medical PaaS & Capital Equipment Sales Professional
2 个月We worked with Grant on finding dealerships last year. Would love to show you as well. Best
Transforming commercial operations to accelerate growth, streamline processes and optimize customer experience at Schneider Electric
2 个月Great point to consider that the early adopters have pretty much all got their EVs and that shifting the conventional buyer to an EV will require more education and support. Really interesting new opportunity for dealerships and advancement for the EV marketplace. Thanks for sharing, Bassem!