GM Charger Expansion Announcement – Hopeful, but Skeptical

By Edward A. Sanchez — Dec. 7, 2022

This week, General Motors announced its initiative to expand the availability of Level 2 charging stations to underserved communities across the country. There’s little doubt there is a desperate need to improve the quantity and quality of public charging points for EVs, but GM’s approach to center its initiative around its dealerships gives me pause.

GM’s recent press release will get you up to speed:

GM celebrated the official launch of its Dealer Community Charging Program with the installation of the first community charging stations in Wisconsin and Michigan. Since the program was announced in late 2021, nearly 1,000 GM dealers have enrolled — representing almost a quarter of all GM dealers in North America. The program initially opened to Chevrolet dealers earlier this year and will expand to Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers in January 2023.

Through the Dealer Community Charging Program, GM and its dealers are working together to expand charging access in communities, including underserved rural and urban areas where EV charging is often limited or non-existent. Participating dealers are eligible to receive up to 10 19.2-kilowatt Level 2 charging stations. GM then connects dealers with installation providers as needed to place the charging stations at key community locations.

Ultimately, GM aims to install up to 40,000 Level 2 charging stations across the U.S. and Canada through the program, nearly doubling the current number of public Level 2 charging stations. These charging stations will be available to all EV drivers — not just GM EV customers — and will deliver the most power available to a Level 2 charger.

If you’ve read this blog or listened to our podcast for any length of time, you know that I’m not a fan of the franchise dealership model, and the opportunistic culture it’s created around unnecessary add-ons and up-sells, not to mention shady practices of intimidating and manipulating the customer in the purchase process.

But it’s not only that historic reputation that gives me pause. I have been part of the EV owner community long enough and visited user-moderated sites such as PlugShare to know that the promise of “open and available” chargers does not always apply at dealerships. Charging stations located at dealerships frequently have user comments such as “Coned off, salesman says for customers only,” or “Stall occupied, car has full charge,” or “Behind gate, arrived after hours, inaccessible.” Or worst of all, “Station installed, no power, un-activated.”

For this initiative to be successful, GM needs to be clear and adamant with its dealers that these chargers must be made available to all EV drivers, regardless of brand, that they are not for “customers only” or only for charging new vehicles in stock, and that salespeople should not harass customers sitting in their vehicles charging. They also need to be available 24/7 and not locked behind gates after hours.

Many dealers are currently quite ambivalent about the prospect of EVs becoming the norm in the course of a little over a decade, and what that means for their historic business model, which is based largely on recurring revenue from service and maintenance. The prospect of “random” EV owners driving onto the dealer’s property and using these chargers with impunity probably seems like an unfair encroachment on their turf. Some dealerships are probably looking at this initiative as a prime opportunity to snag customers in essentially a captive environment.

There are non-threatening ways for dealerships to approach this opportunity without seeming predatory or opportunistic. One thought is offering the quid pro quo of offering 30 minutes or one hour of free charging in exchange for being willing to watch a commercial on their vehicle’s center screen while parked. Some customers would be happily willing to watch a commercial to get a break on their cost of charging, while others are happy to pay the extra cost to be left alone. Leave it up to the customer.

To further incentivize customer engagement, perhaps place a QR code at the end of the ad spot that customers can click on to fill out an interest form, or indicate they would like to have a sales representative come over to their vehicle and talk about the latest GM EV models.

There is nothing inherently wrong with taking advantage of business development or sales opportunities. But there are positive, creative ways to do it – there are also predatory, opportunistic ways to do it. Consumers are usually open to the former, if it’s a positive experience, and almost always opposed to the latter.

I applaud GM for making this announcement and commitment. But there need to be clear conditions and guidelines that the dealerships must adhere to, and consequences when they don’t.

(Image courtesy General Motors)

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