Charging infrastructure is a major component to driving widespread adoption of electric vehicles, and one franchised dealer in Wake County, N.C., is already taking action. 

In preparation for a wave of new EV options from legacy OEMs, the dealership — which isn’t going public with these plans yet — has installed 12 charging stations on its property.

“They have them underground, ready to put them out in front of their dealership so that when the EVs come, they want the consumer to be charging their car in front of that dealership,” said Bob Glaser, president of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association.  

“And that’s a perfect example of what we want,” Glaser said. “We want to be proactive in working with the dealers so that when that customer walks and says, ‘Hey, tell me about that new Volkswagen ID.4,’ they’re not reacting to that. They’ve planned that type of (interaction on EVs).” 

Ahead of North Carolina dealer Mike Alford taking the helm as 2022 chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association at NADA Show, Glaser spoke to Auto Remarketing about the major challenges and opportunities for franchised dealerships in the Tar Heel State — much of which centers on preparing for more EVs in the market.

“Our objective is to get in front of the whole EV adoption and distribution,” Glaser said. 

3 pillars of NC dealers’ EV campaign 

That objective is the essence of NCADA’s “All In On EVs” campaign, which boils down to three components: 

First, educate dealers on how to sell EVs and their differences from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. 

Second, protect the franchise system: “We don’t want the consumer going outside of our franchise dealers to buy the EVs. We believe that the EVs are best sold by franchise dealers,” Glaser said.

And third, educate the consumer and share the EV options available to them from franchised dealers. 

The website for the campaign — NCelectricvehicles.com — includes a guide for consumers on 10 things they should consider when buying an EV. But what does NCADA want dealers to know about selling EVs?

“The biggest thing that dealers need to know is, No. 1 they’re coming. This is going to happen,” said Glaser, who noted that NCADA has formed an EV advisory committee with about 10 dealers to identify key reminders for its members. 

“And you need to be working with your employees and your OEMs today. Don’t wait for that customer to roll in and say, ‘I’m looking to buy a new EV’” and catch your store flat-footed, he said. 

Glaser later added: “But what we tell the dealers is, No. 1 get ready. Just get ready. If the legacy manufacturers don’t win the race to EVs, then we risk losing our franchise system. 

“Because then every Tom, Dick and Harry who has a startup EV is going to be selling them,” he said. “And that’s where we think the consumer gets in trouble.”

From hockey pucks to political leaders

The campaign has a number of tentacles to reach both dealers and consumers, and educating the latter about the EV options available from franchised dealers, beyond the new direct-to-consumer OEM models. 

NCADA is directing consumers and dealers to its EV website through various promotions and social media, says Kobe Fike, who is NCADA’s project manager for “All In On EVs.” 

The campaign has been airing “All In For EVs” commercials on cable TV in various markets across the state.

The group also has a wrapped VW ID.4 that it uses for promotion and engagement, including recent trips to a Carolina Hurricanes hockey game as well as a meeting with North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Department of Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette at the governor’s Executive Mansion to discuss plan for how the state can prepare for more vehicles on its roads.

In January, Cooper issued an Executive Order around a “clean energy economy” that called for at least 1.25 million zero-emission vehicles to be on North Carolina roads by 2030 and for half of the state’s new-car sales to be zero-emission by that same target date. 

“And one of our members said to him (at that meeting), ‘The only way you’re going to get to your scale of how many vehicles you want in North Carolina is to get the dealers involved,’” Glaser said. 

Dealers also need to be involved in the EV ecosystem for the consumer’s sake, Glaser staid. 

During the group’s trip to the Hurricanes game, Glaser was often asked why it was so important for consumers to buy EVs from franchised dealers. 

“The first thing i say is, ‘If you buy a Buick, how many Buick dealerships can you get that car fixed at?’” Glaser said. “And they’re like, ‘Oh, well, I can get a Buick fixed anywhere.’” 

The same might not be true for new entrants to the space that use the direct-to-consumer model without dealerships, he said.

Same benefit applies to the sales process.

“If you’re buying a new Chevrolet, how many dealerships can you buy it from in Wake County? And you can price one against the other,” Glaser said. “If you’re buying a new EV from that shiny EV company, you can only buy it for one price. And that’s their price.

“So, you lose price competition and you lose service ability,” Glaser said. “That’s the beautiful thing about the franchise system … it protects the consumers in pricing and in service.”

‘Electrified decade’

EVs have a still relatively small, but growing share of vehicle sales in North Carolina, Glaser said. He estimates it at 2%, but’s up from 1% a year ago and 0.5% a year earlier. 

“I would think that it would be 4% by the end of next year,” Glaser said. 

Nationally, EVs represented 3.2% of new-vehicle sales last year, according to data from Cox Automotive. And when you add hybrids and plug-in hybrids to that mix — a sum that Cox calls “electrified” — the number jumps to 9.7%.

There were 487,460 EV sales last year, Cox said, an 89.0% increase from 2020. Total electrified sales (again, including HEVs/PHEVs with EVs) came in at 969,407, an 84.4% year-over-year increase. 

“This is the electrified decade, and Cox Automotive is forecasting further growth of electrified vehicles in the years ahead, although the growth rate will likely cool from the heated pace in 2021,” Cox said in a January Data Point report. 

“Hybrids are now mainstream products, and more than a dozen new EVs are launching in 2022, including the potentially high-volume Ford F-150 Lightning. Consumers continue to indicate that EVs are too expensive, and concerns about range and charging availability remain,” it added. 
“Still, consideration of EVs has never been higher. Nearly half a million buyers bought into an EV in 2021, despite the obstacles. As EV availability expands and capability improves, even more consumers will make the choice in 2022.”
 
EV sessions on tap at NADA 
With this EV growth in mind, NADA said on its convention website that it is zeroing in on the electric market in several of its sessions at NADA Show. 
One of those is a Super Session on March 10 titled, “Plugging into What’s Possible: Inside the EV Opportunity for Dealers.” 
The session details the “product, partnerships and possibilities at the retail level,” NADA said on its convention website.
“The EV pathway is clear, but what are the opportunities for dealers? Where can the industry work together to make the transition more seamless?” NADA said on its site. “The future is electric; now, how can it be brighter?
NADA is launching an “EV Solutions Center” in the North Hall of the exhibit hall that will provide experts on hand to help answer dealer’s EV-related questions, it said. 
The association also has more than a handful of EV-related workshop sessions during the show, along with Exchange and Dealer Learning Lab content on EVs, NADA said on its convention website. 
Additionally, the skybridge between the North and West convention halls will feature an “Electric Avenue” where conference goers can see “the history and future of electric vehicles, and to learn about dealer success stories,” NADA said.

NADA’s new leadership 
Also on the NADA Show agenda is a keynote address from Alford, the 2022 NADA chair who will take on this position as part of the convention
Glaser, the NCADA president, said he has known Alford for more than 20 years, and that the incoming NADA chair takes a “rising tide raises all boats” approach. 
“He knows that if the economy does well, everybody’s going to do well,” Glaser said. “If the dealers do well and the consumer does well, the community does well. So, the whole rising tide raises all boats really speaks for his broad perspective on the industry.”
Glaser also said that Alford is someone who strives for “continuous improvement.” 
“He always thinks it could be made better and I think what he’s going to try to do at NADA is really build on the hundred years of success that NADA has had … Just make it incrementally better,” Glaser said. “He doesn’t intend to do radical changes … he’s just interested in building on the success that NADA has enjoyed over the last 100 years.”
Glaser said that Alford “gets all the stakeholders involved.” When there is a challenge that crops up, Alford will get the automakers, dealers and state association executives involved, “and together we can solve this issue,” Glaser said. “He’s very much a group collaborative guy.”