Mustang Mach-E's arrival places demands on Ford dealership shops

Editor's note: The fourth paragraph of an earlier version of this story understated the number of Ford dealers who have signed up to be certified to work on the Mach-E.

The new Ford Mustang Mach-E is the first electric vehicle Ford Motor Co. expects to sell in large numbers. To service the SUV, Ford dealers are installing charging stations, buying new tools and assigning technicians to specialized training. Ford says the Mach-E's redesigned battery will make that service easier, safer and faster.

Shawn Barry, general manager of Red McCombs Ford in San Antonio, says his dealership is undergoing "the full certification program" for Mach-E service. That includes sending his eight EV-certified techs to a Ford center for training specific to the Mach-E; they also are receiving online instruction. They are trained to work on the Ford Focus BEV, Ford's only other battery-electric vehicle.

Barry says he will have to buy special tools for Mach-E service. Ford will define those requirements next spring, he adds, and the Mach-E is scheduled to arrive at dealerships in late 2020.

More than 2,100 dealers have signed up to be certified for the Mach-E and subsequent EVs, says George Goddu, the lead for aftersales strategy on Team Edison, Ford's division of EV planning. That's up from the 900 dealers who had been previously certified to service EVs.

An important element of Mach-E training is removing and replacing the SUV's battery modules. The battery, supplied by LG Chem, has modules that can be independently diagnosed, removed and repaired or replaced.

That design makes the battery "easier to service," Goddu says, since it enables dealerships to store and ship individual modules. The battery in the Focus BEV can only be serviced as a single unit, he says.

The modules will improve repair times for the Mach-E, Goddu says.

There also is a safety element, since an entire battery can release toxic chemicals and even catch fire.

Barry says he plans to add a charging station in front of his dealership, along with two stations in the service department. Even in truck-loving Texas, he says, he thinks there will be brisk demand for the Mach-E. Yet he laments that Ford has allocated only a few Mach-E EVs to his dealership.

"We can't prove we have demand," he says, "because we can't get the inventory."