EV Auto is the first used-only car dealer to join Amazon Autos, the electric vehicle retailer said Monday.

And for CEO and co-founder Alex Lawrence, whose background before automotive was tech, the decision was an easy one.

“As soon as Amazon Autos was announced, I knew we wanted to be there immediately, instantly,” Lawrence told Auto Remarketing. “It’s been incredible to work with the Amazon Autos team on this launch. We are really grateful they believe in EV Auto and that our customer experience is aligned.

“We are the most trusted car dealership in America, and they are the best online customer experience probably in the entire world. I am proud of the business our team has built so that someone like Amazon would have confidence in launching with us”

Starting this week on Amazon Autos, consumers will have access to all EV Auto inventory, which EV Auto can ship nationwide after the purchase or the consumer can pick the vehicle up at one of EV Auto’s stores.

Lawrence doesn’t anticipate vehicles on the platform will just “fly off the shelves;” rather, he expects “slow and steady” growth.

Adding EV Auto’s inventory to Amazon Autos certainly expands the used EV retailer’s reach, but it’s also another step towards meeting customers where they want to shop.

“We’re really close to letting people to be able to buy cars from us online on our own website without ever talking to us anyway,” Lawrence said. “I want you to be able to visit a store. I want you to be able to go to our website. You can buy a car live from me on TikTok. And now you can go to Amazon. And in all of these places you will have the EV Auto experience and be able to work with us.”

When a customer buys an EV Auto vehicle on Amazon Autos, the retailer will receive a notification and then call the customer.

That conversation is an opportunity for EV Auto to sell back-end products like chargers and additional warranty coverage, when appropriate.

“And so it’ll be no different than if they bought a car from us. We’re hopeful that that will produce some extra revenue,” Lawrence said, adding that Amazon does not keep any of the front-end profit.

“There’s a per store fee and then they take a percentage of back end (purchases),” he said. “With us, you won’t be able to buy as many back end products as other dealers because they’re different products.

“You’ll still be able to buy GAP insurance and a few other things on the platform, but they’re not quite ready yet to load up our battery warranty or load up getting a charger installed,” Lawrence said. “I’m hopeful that over time they’ll let us add those things so the customer can just ‘click, click, click’” and add those ancillary products, as well.

Lawrence said that Amazon has told him that buyers sometimes will “do all the homework on Amazon” and then go to the dealership to actually buy the vehicle, and he thinks this could “have a positive effect on our business that’s not directly attributable to Amazon, like an actual sale on the website.”

It also expands the online reach of EV Auto, given the omnipresence of Amazon in the overall retail experience (even outside of automotive) for consumers.

“I mean, it’s where I go every single time I want to buy something first. And I don’t always do it, but I always start there because they’ve made it so damn easy to buy, to ship and to return,” Lawrence said.

“And I’ll never forget. I heard (Amazon founder Jeff) Bezos speak in person, 20 years ago here in Utah. And he said, ‘Our business will always be about two things: Faster shipping and lower prices. People never, ever, ever will get tired of those two things improving,’” Lawrence said.

“And I thought, well, dang, you are right,” he said. “And then you layer in good customer service … even though the price thing is different with cars, you know, and the shipping thing is different.

“But the customer service part is where I think we have an opportunity to prove to them that, ‘Hey, we’re going to treat customers just like you do.’”

First dealer to offer Tesla Superchargers

There’s another launch from EV Auto this week, as well.

Its store in Brentwood, Tenn., will be the first non-Tesla dealership to have Tesla Superchargers on site.

That’s part of EV Supercharging, which is another unit of EV Auto parent company The EV Group, which Lawrence also leads.

Under EV Supercharging, the company has partnered with Tesla to own and operate Tesla Supercharger locations.

“We own (the locations), we put forward the capital for the chargers and the construction, everything else, and they (Tesla) operate them,” Lawrence said. “So they service them and support them and things like that.”

There are between 18-20 EV Supercharging locations being built in a handful of states.

The locations have EV Auto branding and include QR codes to schedule service, obtain service discounts and purchase warranty coverage.

They will also test offering on-site EV detailing for $99, Lawrence said.

And for the culinarily inclined, the company just signed on for an EV Supercharging location at an In-N-Out and other locations with food nearby.

“They can go in and get a burger and we’ll clean their car for them,” Lawrence said.

And at the Brentwood location, EV Auto has installed an inflatable movie screen, where customers can catch a few minutes of a ballgame, for example, while they charge their car.

EV Auto, which is flagship business of The EV Group, has three dealerships: two in Utah, along with the aforementioned Nashville-area store.

The company has purchased property to open an EV Auto store in Las Vegas and is considering a second location this year in the city, as well, Lawrence said.  It is also plans to open in Dallas in the fourth quarter of this year or in the first quarter of next.

In addition to EV Auto and EV Supercharging, The EV Group includes several other businesses tapping into the various pieces of the EV lifecycle.

Those are EV Warranties (which sells warranty coverage tailed to EVs), EV Acquisitions (which buys EVs directly from private parties) and EV Service (which includes repair facilities and mobile operations to service electrics).

The company is also considering adding logistics/transport and parts to the mix.

“And so, at some point with The EV Group, we want to be able to work with our customers across all of the places that they can charge their EV, repair their EV, protect their EV, sell us their EV, buy us an EV from us — all of those things,” Lawrence said.

“And so, we’re chipping away at that. But EV Auto is clearly the jewel in the crown and we are super excited about Amazon Autos as our next step in that direction.”