Ford has become the first manufacturer to offer customers a free home charger with a new EV purchase in the latest bid to boost electric car sales.
The Ford 'Power Promise' - which aims to convince drivers to switch to electric by helping break down barriers to adoption - will also give EV owners a home energy bonus of up to 10,000 miles of no-cost charging.
The deal is in response to a survey the American manufacturer conducted in which a quarter of the 5,000 drivers polled said they're put off switching to an EV due to the perceived complexity of owning a car that needs to be charged up.
Ford's offer is applicable across its entire electric passenger vehicle line up, including the latest all-electric Puma Gen-E and Capri, as well as its electric van range.
Lisa Brankin, UK chair and managing director at the car company, said: 'Ford have decided to simplify and de-stress the entire ownership experience by launching a one-of-a-kind promise to new electric car buyers.'
Ford's deal arrives as Keir Starmer announced softened EV sales targets in Britain as the government rallied to protect the automotive sector and jobs following US President Donald Trump's 25 per cent tariffs on all US car imports.
Ford's new Power Promise will gift people a home charger, installation and 10,000 miles of energy with any new electric car or van purchase
Brankin describes the offer as a commitment from Ford to entice new buyers into the exciting world of electric vehicles and stimulate additional demand for our freshest-ever lineup of electric passenger cars'.
So, what exactly do you get for free?
The package includes an Ohme home charger - including the cost of installation - which will save motorists hundreds of pounds paying for a device out of their own pocket.
Also inclusive is a 10,000 miles home energy bonus for those happy to sign up to the industry-leading 'Intelligent Octopus Go' smart energy tariff.
This means customers will benefit from the smart tariff rate of just 7p/kWh for off-peak charging, which can save up to 70 per cent in energy costs. This is because it automatically optimises charging to make use of cheaper energy overnight or during moments when there's less demand on the grid, when solar energy can be used instead.
'Ford’s commitment to offer new car buyers a free wall box paired with our smart tariffs is a compelling incentive for drivers to make the switch to electric, making it easy and saving them money', says Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson.
As well as easy charging, drivers will have the peace of mind of an eight-year, 100,000 mile high voltage component and battery warranty cover, free-of-charge five-year service plan, and free-of-charge five-year towing assistance in case their EVs do breakdown.
This is on top of access to more than 33,000 UK public charging points Ford's BlueOval Charge Network provides, and easy charging via the FordPass app.
Ford's BlueOval Charge Network has 33,000 UK public charging points and you can programme your charging via the FordPass app
Ford’s offer is applicable across all of Ford’s electric passenger vehicle line.
This means all of Ford's electric cars; the new Puma Gen-E, the Ford Capri, the Ford Explorer SUV and the Mustang Mach-E, as well as the all-electric E-Tourneo Custom and all-electric E-Tourneo Courier.
If you don't want the free charger and installation, you can instead opt for a £500 cash alternative.
Home charging vs the public charging network
While Ford is providing free charging solutions for those with off-street parking facilities, EV drivers without driveways are still reliant on the more expensive-to-use network of public devices (although Ford's £500 cash offer instead of the charger and installation goes some way to mitigate this).
Zap-Map recently confirmed the nation's charging infrastructure has grown 29 per cent in the first quarter of the year.
This represent 3,141 new charge points were installed, bringing the total number across the country to 76,840.
Rapid charge points, with a power rating of 50kW - 149kW, have seen 286 additions in the past three months, bringing the total number across the country to 7,736 - a year-on-year increase of 11.3 per cent.
Some 49 new charging hubs have opened, including the UK's largest ultra-rapid charging hub in the UK, InstaVolt Winchester.
It has 44 bays equipped with solar-powered chargers with speeds up to 160kW.
The site also has a Starbucks, play area for children, dog walking site, and 24/7 facilities and CCTV.
InstaVolt's opened the UK's largest ultra-rapid charging hub on the A34 near Winchester. It has 44 bays powered by clean energy to charge EVs up to 80% in less than 20 minutes
EV owners only have to tap a contactless card to pay. There's no need to download a smartphone application or sign up - though the InstaVolt app offers off-peak discounted rates
There have been 1,983 street charger new additions in the first three months of 2025, bringing the total to 27,501 on-street chargers, and it's not just London that's seeing growth
There have also been major upgrades to the capital's public charging infrastructure in recent days.
Ultra-rapid provider Fastned and Transport for London (TFL)'s Places for London have partnered to develop a new EV charging hub at Hatton Cross station.
The first of five new EV charging hubs, it will have 12 ultra-rapid (400kW) charging bays all using renewable energy.
There's good news for on-street charging provision too.
There have been 1,983 new additions in the first three months of 2025, bringing the total to 27,501 on-street chargers (these offer an solution for those who don't have access to a home charger).
While the majority of these are unsurprisingly in London, the rest of the UK is seeing far higher growth in the number of on-street devices being installed which will help solve the North-South charging divide.
London saw an increase of just over 5.6 per cent per cent in Q1, but the rest of the UK saw the number of on-street chargers increase from 7,016 at the end of December to 7,958 at the end of March, an increase of more than 13 per cent.
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