Much ado has been made about EV adoption among retail consumers, which has been brisk thus far, though there’s still much work to be done. However, few have discussed the importance of EV demand from commercial customers such as fleet operators, though Ford has placed a major focus on that area of its business with the Ford F-150 Lightning Pro, E-Transit, and Ford Pro suite of services. Those moves are clearly paying off as well, as Ford CEO Jim Farley recently noted that EV demand remains higher among commercial customers than retail ones.
“On the commercial EV, I have to say, the demand for the move to electric on our commercial customers is, in many ways, more robust than the retail side, even though we’re completely sold out in both, for the three products, the turn rates are just enormous, the order rates,” Farley said while speaking on Ford’s Q3 earnings call. “But the profitability is different between a commercial EV and a retail EV. And we’re going to be breaking out our EV business and profitability soon. So this is going to be quite interesting for all of you and for us as we do that. So…but I will tell you, this is a big help. This will really help the profitability of our commercial vehicle that are EV and I think it will really stimulate the demand.”
The Ford E-Transit has remained the sales leader in the EV van segment since its launch earlier this year, a trend that continued in the month of October, as Ford Authority reported last week. But it isn’t the only fleet-focused EV proving popular with customers, as the Ford F-150 Lightning did not exclude fleet buyers from the get-go – as is the case with many other EV pickups hitting the market. In fact, through late September, the Pro represented around 20 percent of total Lightning production. Demand was so strong that Ford stopped taking 2023 F-150 Lightning Pro orders back in August.
Meanwhile, greener pastures are ahead for both Ford and its commercial EV customers, as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 figures to benefit both, as Ford Authority reported last week. Farley estimates that 55-65 percent of the company’s commercial customers will qualify for the $7,500 EV tax credit moving forward, in fact, which could prove to be an even bigger boon for that side of the business.
We’ll have more on EV demand from both retail and commercial customers soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for ongoing Ford news coverage.
Comments
What world is this on? EV’s aren’t capable enough to work for commercial customers yet. What happens when you put 2,000 lbs of pipe and tools in an E-Transit? You can only service customers within a very small range, and only 1-2 per day….
I’m concerned about the accuracy of your stats.
Same thing over concerns of poor fuel mileage. Get a bigger tank/battery and stop to get gas/charge up when you need to. Did people fuss this much when RV motorhomes were first coming out and only getting 6 mpg fully loaded? AFAIK, the only real challenge is making enough batteries and figuring out how to recycle them more efficiently.
So EV’s “aren’t capable to work commercial” and yet, commercial orders are sold out for the foreseeable future. Ever wonder why they don’t put you in charge? /s
So Lightning prices go up 10K, Mach E prices go up $3000.00 to $8300.00 and you wonder why average consumers are not buying them.
Except they are selling every one they can get the parts to build.
As the shift from ICE to EV speeds up, and more players compete in this space, and competition in the commodity materials and battery production spaces heats up, product will improve and prices will fall.
This is inevitable.
They took down your nasty comment. Glad someone is watching you.
LoL you mean the one where I replied to the historically ignorant hurt durr imbecile who claimed boomers created the hemi engine and the Apollo moon rocket (despite these being accomplished by the greatest generation) in his attempt to say my post boomer generation hadn’t accomplished anything (despite me being a boomer myself)?
You might note they took down his moronic nonsense, as well as the refutation of another party in addition to my fact-dense accurate and sporty brushback.
Ps. Please ignore Joe’s childish reply that follows, he can’t avoid tripling down and spilling his ignorant self-identifying bromides in defense of abject ignorance and stupidity.
Yes there is nothing worse than someone who hells the loudest and knows the least. You won that award.
After $7500 tax credit, my Mach-E is priced very competitively with All other equivalent premium vehicles, EV or ICE. And in my first month of ownership, I saved $250 in gas (1,000 miles). That is correct – I’ll save AT LEAST $3,000 in gas every single year I own this car. So Stop with the false information. Because lying about EVs these days is so common, so boring.
Really cool to hear real world benefits of these cars.
Ps am curious what $/g did you use in your calculations?