Automobile dealerships serve as ambassadors to customers looking to buy a new car. They’re tasked with understanding and promoting new trends and technologies in the industry.
And no trend in today’s auto industry is bigger than electric vehicles — but dealers may be disincentivized to sell them because of their business model, EV advocates say.
The service and parts department is typically where dealerships make the most profit. Dealers nationwide wrote 264 million repair orders and brought in more than $142 billion in sales from service last year, according to the National Automobile Dealers Association .
Electric vehicles have fewer parts and need less service, with no internal combustion engine, transmission, or other major internal parts needing regular maintenance or repair.
“It’s not profitable to sell electric vehicles,” said Ellen Wade, an EV owner and advocate, “because they’re not going to see us again.”
Despite massive investment in EV manufacturing in Kentucky, totaling $11.7 billion in the last four years, the state is lagging in rate of ownership compared to other states.