If there’s a key change between those early efforts in 2016 and today it’s that electrics are no longer the exclusive domain of early adopters; they’re now appealing to a wider audience of shoppers. As that customer base widens, Plug In America, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles that promotes a shift to plug-in hybrids and EVs, has sought to educate dealers and train their staffs on how to be more effective with prospective customers. Since 2016, its PlugStar program, also a shopping tool for consumers, has trained hundreds of dealerships and thousands of salespeople.
“Car dealers are where the rubber meets the road,” said Joel Levin, executive director of Plug In America. “That’s where the sale gets transacted, and it’s a central part of this equation. It’s a different sale. A different business transaction than dealers are used to. There’s been some speed bumps along the way.”
Fundamentally, customer questions around gasoline-powered cars are vehicle-centric. Questions regarding EVs, on the other hand, are about the ecosystem needed to support the cars: Where can customers charge? How long does charging take? How much does it cost to install at home-charging equipment and then charge the battery? How quickly does the battery degrade?
The more salespeople can have those answers at their fingertips, and provide real-time information from utility companies, the better they can be at EV sales.
“Once dealers understand the technology and can answer those questions, they go, ‘Hey, this is an easy sell, because the cars are easy to refuel and there are incentives available to buy them,’ ” said Kat Urquhart, who manages the PlugStar program. “A lot of times, they find EV champions are created and they say, ‘Give me the inventory, and we can sell these cars.’ ”
She says salespeople trained in the PlugStar program sell four times as many EVs as their untrained counterparts at the same dealerships. Dealerships that invest in the training have seen their plug-in hybrid sales rise 10 percent and battery-electric sales increase 20 percent, Urquhart said. Surveys show PlugStar-certified dealers are twice as likely to get a coveted five-star rating from customers than those who are not trained.
Even for the most enthusiastic dealerships, however, some roadblocks remain. While negotiating group buys, Johnson says available incentives are often dictated to dealerships from automakers, so pricing leeway can be limited. Sometimes, inventory can be limited as well, making it hard to secure a decent number of vehicles.
Nonetheless, he is certain that forging relationships and educating dealers and their staffs is a key to enabling widespread adoption of EVs.
“Customers are more knowledgeable themselves now, and they’ve got friends who have Teslas, and they’ve watched videos, and they’re waiting for the right time,” Johnson said. “When we have a group buy, they say, ‘Oh, I can get this amazing deal in the month of October, and I’m ready to pull a trigger.’ There still needs to be a little bit of hand-holding getting them to that final ‘yes.’ ”