Ford Motor Company today announced that it plans to triple the number of electric vehicle charging stations at its offices across the US and Canada over the next two years, expanding from 200 to 600 workplace charging stations. The company is moving forward with the plan confidently after data showed that the 200 stations the automaker keeps at 50 of its facilities influenced the vehicle purchasing decisions of six out of every ten EV-owning employees.
“Work is the second-most likely place people charge their electric vehicles,” explains Ford Sustainability and Vehicle Environmental Matters Manager Steve Henderson. “If we give people the ability to charge when they’re at work, we can significantly up the potential for mass market adoption of electrified vehicle technology.”
Both the “six in ten” statistic and the assertion that work is the second-most likely place for EV owners to charge up come from a study of Ford employee EV driving and charging behaviors conducted between January, 2014 and September, 2017. Henderson is preparing to deliver a presentation on the findings of said study this week, at the 30th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition in Stuttgart, Germany.
Ford’s study uncovered a number of other interesting insights into employee EV use, like that the most popular times to charge are from 8 to 11 am and noon to 3 pm, or that the solar array installed at Ford’s World Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan produces far more energy than its workplace charging stations consume.
The study also found that for some employees, having to move their EVs as soon as they’re fully charged is a big downside. That’s the primary reason that Ford has decided to expand its employee charging network: to accommodate existing demand and then some, as EVs experience wider adoption.
No Comments yet