Car buyer ignores best friend's advice on electric vehicles
Arizona real estate agent conquers fear and converts skeptics -- after Ford dealer talks straight about very real anxiety and when it subsides, as part of a unique and successful sales strategy
Michelle Hodges of Phoenix, Arizona, is a highly successful real estate agent who spends the majority of her day in a car showing properties to clients, and a car is essential to her financial well being.
So when she told her best friend that she was considering a plan to swap her 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe for a 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E, he pushed back and cautioned that his Audi diesel was not something he wanted to surrender to her if she had issues with the electric vehicle.
Hodges, 49, made the trade in August and said her initial experience was total fear and apprehension — but she did it anyway.
Why? Because the sales team at San Tan Ford in Gilbert, Arizona, warned Hodges that she would experience fear and apprehension. They withheld nothing from her, themselves drivers of the Mach-E, and told Hodges how her life would change in a matter of days.
Hodges didn’t go into the dealership planning to buy an electric vehicle but she left feeling like it would be a perfect fit. The sales team warned that she needed to trust she would be OK but to recognize the transition would take a few weeks.
For example, drivers are used to watching the needle of the fuel gauge go down as the amount of fuel decreases. Many people stop when it hits a quarter tank but others wait until the red warning light pops on to find a gas station. Meanwhile, in an electric car, the fuel gauge displays a percentage of battery power left. It will say 80% or 50% or 20%. As drivers use the vehicle, the percentage drops. That can be unsettling. But the precise mileage available is also shown, so drivers can calculate how far they need to go to make it home to a charger or find a commercial station.
“I had all this range anxiety where I thought I’d be stranded,” Hodges said. “My boyfriend didn’t want me to get the car. He was adamant. He said, ‘If you want to start borrowing my car, that’s going to get old really fast.’”
Feels like a BMW
But Hodges said she wanted to be on the cutting edge, even if the charging stations aren’t everywhere they need to be just yet. She understood there was a learning curve, and she’d need to get used to not getting gas.
She went shopping for a car with fuel efficiency and convenience for someone who drives all day every single day.
“I needed something that was going to make my life easier. And the EV has made my life easier,” she said. “First of all, it’s not what I expected. It’s a peppy car. It’s fast and small and tight. It feels like a BMW but it’s super quiet. It saves me time because I don’t have to stop and get gas. It saves me a ton of money.”
She plugs it into the outlet installed in her garage at night and wakes up in the morning to a fully charged vehicle. While Hodges doesn’t know how much less she’s paying to run her car now, she knows the costs have dropped.
“I could drive from north Scottsdale to Gilbert to Chandler to Ahwatuke and spend, like, $200 or $300 a week for gas. Now I just plug it in at night. And I spend the whole day in the car,” she said. “My power bill went up about $50 but sometimes I forget to turn the air down, so that’s not just cost of the car charging. I don’t know the true dollar amount.”
She also runs carpool for kids.
Things are good now, but it was hard to not freak out initially.
“The first week, I was stopping all the time. The gauge would get below 80% and I would need to go charge it. I’d feel like, I’m driving to Scottsdale, am I going to make it? Until you spend the whole day driving around, you’re not going to get it. I had a day where I had 13 showing in one day, from Mesa to Chandler to north central Phoenix. I was in my car from 9:30 in the morning until 8 at night. I came home with 50% on my charge. I was like, OK, I can do this.”
118 degrees? No problem
Hodges is a Top 2% luxury real estate agent for Russ Lyon, Sotheby’s International Realty based in Scottsdale. She purchased the Mustang Mach-E with an extended battery that delivers up to 320 miles per charge.
A warm day in Phoenix can be 118 degrees, Hodges noted. In Scottsdale, it shoots up to 121 degrees. Yet that hasn’t disrupted her tracking the charge and distance. She said she rarely uses a commercial charging station because the home charge is plenty.
What gave Hodges comfort, she said, is that Tim Hovik, the car dealership owner, talked to her about her life and expectations. He didn’t try to sell her on the electric vehicle as much as explore if it was a good fit. His team talked her through their experiences driving the vehicle personally, too.
“They had this car. They were telling me cool things that would be helpful, and there was a little bit of a learning curve,” Hodges said. “I’d have to get used to not getting gas. You can’t just stop. But do I know where every gas station is? No. They’re everywhere. I just don’t need to worry about it. I’d learn.”
She added, “I thought it would complicate my life and it’s actually simplified my life and saved me money.”
Now, Hodges’ boyfriend says the car is sexy and he doesn't worry about her on the road — as he feared he would, she said.
Arizona ain’t no California
Michelle Hodges was one of 137 buyers who purchased either a Mustang Mach-E SUV (two-thirds) or an all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning (one-third) during the month of August from Hovik. It was the most electric vehicles sold in a single month for any of the nearly 3,000 Ford dealers in the U.S.
What makes the data point remarkable is that, of the Top 19 bestselling car dealers when it comes to electric vehicles 18 are in the state of California. The state of Arizona doesn’t have any special incentives or perks to owners who go all electric.
Regular folks, not just early adopters
What makes Hovik unusual is that he challenged his sales team to learn more about the electric vehicles they sell by owning what they sell, helping give his sales team real customer knowledge, Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue, told me.
While the rate of growth of EV sales has slowed, consumers are still buying. And Hovik said the key is understanding how people are living and what they need. Many families want split garages, with one traditional gas-powered vehicle to go with the EV, he said.
“There is a market for electric vehicles,” Hovik said. “We have come to believe that the early adopters, the people who have been driving Teslas, that piece of business has come and went. If we’re going to have success selling electric vehicles, it’s much more in a mainstream way — to a mainstream group of customers.
In August, he sold in one month half the number of EVs he sold in all of 2023, Hovik said.
Ford CEO Jim Farley told me, “I’m surprised that someone in Arizona, which is not a ZEV (zero emission vehicle) state, sold 100 or more, but I’m not surprised it’s Tim Hovik. He can do anything. He’s the most optimistic, can-do person I’ve ever met. He’s amazing.”
Gas cars aren’t going away but EV is here to stay
Now, electric vehicles are one of many options that include diesel, hybrid and traditional gasoline, Hovik said. “The EV is probably a really good transportation solution for 20% of our customers, they just might not know about it. We figure, let’s try and match them up.”
If someone is not planning to tow big heavy objects or is driving around a defined area for hundreds of miles, an EV is an amazing vehicle, Hovik said. And having a second vehicle for longer trips can ease anxiety, he said.
“Split garages will be the next big migration, where people have one EV and one ICE (internal combustion engine),” he said.
The key for Hovik and his team, he said, is that they never viewed the electric vehicle as a unicorn but as just another Ford option. “You need to overcome the idea that there’s some sort of negative perception. We’re transportation experts. Our job is to sell cars and fix cars. If you understand electric cars, you know what to do and don’t do to match up customers. What’s happening in Arizona shows there’s a market for electric vehicles.”
Not just for golf carts
The sticker price on Hodges’ five-passenger vehicle was $55,885, including taxes and fees. Base models start around $40,000.
Year to date, Ford has seen electric vehicle sales climb 45% from 46,671 in 2023 to 67,689 in 2024. For third quarter alone, Hodges was part of a 12% growth year-over-year from 20,962 electric vehicles to 23,509 electric vehicles, said Erich Merkle, Ford US sales analyst.
General Motors is also seeing sales growth as it brings new electric vehicles to market, along with competitors. Year to date, the industry has seen electric vehicle sales climb 9% compared to the same period last year, Merkle noted.
Ford announced in September it would provide a complimentary home charger and standard installation.
Claims that the electric vehicle market is dead or dying are premature, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania.
“We’re looking at around 10% of electric sales this year,” he said. “This isn’t your father’s golf cart. These are modern high-performance vehicles and they will change your perception once you get behind the wheel. Electric vehicles sell themselves on silence and power. This is the future of the industry.”
As a former reporter at The Des Moines Register and lecturer at the annual Okoboji Writers Retreat in Iowa, I’m grateful to be part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Check it out. Really great writing.
I’m not sure why one would say you need a different vehicle for long travel. I love my EV for long trips. Great read!
You know I love this!