More than 100 dealer locations are electric vehicle (EV)-authorized, Navistar announced Wednesday. The OEM says that's more than 30% of its dealer locations ready to support the sale and service of International and IC Bus EVs.
These dealers cover 41 U.S. states and seven Canadian provinces.
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"The International and IC Bus dealer network live our customer-first value and that is no different in the transition to EVs," says Debbie Shust, vice president of work truck business, Navistar. "A zero-emissions future requires collaboration from all stakeholders. For our customers to have a positive experience with EVs, our dealers must be appropriately prepared to sell and service them."
EV-authorized dealers must:
- Provide a sales plan and resources to support the customer through the planning and delivery phases of their EV journey.
- Invest in technician training to provide timely maintenance and repairs.
- Invest in service equipment, including lifts, tools and chargers to ensure dealers are prepared to diagnose all aspects of EVs and keep customer vehicles on the road.
Navistar says its EV-authorized dealers understand the EV journey is uncertain. They are focused on ensuring an exceptional customer experience from the sales process through maintenance and operation.
"We see the future of commercial transportation being more and more battery electric in certain applications," says Rick Otten, president of Cumberland, an International and IC Bus dealer with nine locations in Tennessee and Florida. "We want to be ahead of the curve to best serve our customers and provide a flawless customer service experience for all the vehicles we offer, either diesel, electric or other fuel options by application as a bridge to potentially electric as a solution. We are future-proofing our business and educating ourselves so that we can be trusted advisors to our truck and bus customers in their journeys to sustainable operations, regardless of where they are in that journey now."
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Navistar's zero emissions team follows a three-step consultative approach to helping customers transition to EVs. First, it consults by understanding motivations and concerns for adopting EVs, including short- and long-term plans. This allows the company to help customers create an adoption roadmap that can include route analysis, range analysis, grant funding, charging and infrastructure planning.
Next, the team needs to understand power needs and assists the customer in making appropriate hardware decisions based on specific routes and applications, as well as future-proofing operations by looking at long-term EV goals. Navistar says it and its partners can support customers in the design and build out of both infrastructure and charging.
The last step is onboarding by coordinating truck and body build timing, charging and infrastructure construction, and training to ensure that when the vehicle arrives, it can be woven into customer operations with minimal disruption.
"Navistar is committed to supporting our customers' carbon reduction goals and our zero emissions team, along with our dealers, are working tirelessly to assist them in that mission," Shust says.
