Project:

Ford Electric Vehicle Benchmarking and Strategic Recommendation

Description:

This project was for Ford’s Electric Vehicle Service division. It focused on strategy for supporting the post-purchase lifecycle of Ford’s EVs — especially when coming into dealerships for maintenance and purchasing maintenance contracts.

I had two primary responsibilities:

1) Benchmark Ford to other competition (Tesla, Nissan, GM, etc.)

2) Provide strategy recommendations to improve EV service and infrastructure

Benchmarking:

Benchmarking required competitor analysis and a review of internal capabilities.

Starting with competitor analysis. I reviewed public market data and information shared by McKinsey consultants on EV service capabilities. I also ran field analysis by visiting Tesla service centers and GM and Kia dealerships with EV service capabilities — these gave me the hands-on “customer experience” that competitors were providing. I went to multiple locations at different times of day to get as wide a breadth of experience as possible.

Then, I reviewed Ford’s capabilities. I used data provided from Ford dealerships on their service times, replacement parts used, cost, revenue, and more to understand what was currently possible. I used R to do regression analysis, calculate throughput, and figure out what were the most profitable service types on a per-unit, per-minute, and per-vehicle basis for EVs.

I then set a series of goals on

1) Volume of service Ford should be capable of in 3 years

2) How many dealerships should be capable of providing EV service in 3 years

3) Revenue goals for the 3 years following meeting capacity and volume benchmarks

Strategic Recommendations:

The second part of my project was to provide 3 strategic recommendations to Ford’s Electric Vehicle service division. The goal of these recommendations were to increase revenue, increase customer satisfaction, and position Ford as the leader in this category among EV manufacturers.

I incorporated all the research I did in my benchmarking work, along with additional data from market sources. I conducted a SWOT analysis of Ford’s EV service, and I gathered insights using consumer surveys that I created and disseminated using Qualtrics.

Here are my 3 recommendations:

1) Leverage the dealership network to focus on availability and ease above all else

  • By far the greatest weakness of other EV manufacturers was their ability to provide service in a timely manner that is easily accessible. Tesla struggled by having limited service center locations, and as a result, long wait times for service. Other OEMs struggled with the same, with many of their dealerships not equipped to maintenance EVs.

  • Ford has the most dealerships of any manufacturer across the US. That means it has the largest network. Ford needs to leverage that network, pouring resources into equipping these dealers with EV service capability. By reaching scale, it gives Ford a competitive advantage in EV service that is difficult to replicate by competitors.

2) Incentivize dealerships to sell EV service packages as a separate maintenance package, bundled at EV purchase

  • I noticed a trend of customers who owned EVs doing their most regular maintenance (tire rotations, brakes) at third party maintenance shops. This took away the most recurring revenue for EV service from Ford

  • By offering discounts on service in the form of pre-paid packages, bundling it at the purchase of the EVs, this incentivizes EV owners to get their service done at Ford dealerships

  • When the term length of the maintenance contract is up, EV owners have established a maintenance routine with Ford and will be more likely to keep returning for scheduled maintenance or sign another maintenance contract

3) Focus on experience of maintenance

  • It’s no secret that people hate taking their car in for maintenance. They either have to wait a long time or are without a vehicle for an extended period — or both!

  • Ford needs to reduce this feeling of waiting, of loss. It’s something that, despite the issues in capacity and wait time, companies like Tesla do very well.

  • This recommendation includes making the waiting experience more amenable by providing options for customers getting their EV serviced. This requires Ford to work with dealerships to ensure they have a fleet of EVs that customers can utilize temporarily while their EV is being serviced, or to provide options like Uber/Lyft credits and improved waiting areas