Key Takeaways
- Ford has partnered with TXU Energy in Texas to offer free EV charging from 7 p.m. to 1 p.m.
- You must be a Ford EV owner registered for TXU’s services.
- There are cash bonuses available, but you may be required to stay enrolled at TXU for at least one year.
Texans who own vehicles like the F-150 Lightning or Mustang Mach-E might be in luck. Ford has announced a partnership with TXU Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, to launch a promotional program that will cut charging bills. Under the TXU Free EV Miles plan, Ford EV owners can receive credits for charging between 7pm and 1pm the next day. Since most EV owners charge at home overnight anyway, this could equate to completely free EV charging, unless they’re on a road trip.
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The program is clearly designed to lock you into the Ford and TXU ecosystem. Ford is offering a $100 “welcome” bonus, while TXU is offering an additional $250, but only if you’ve been signed up with the provider for at least a year. Considering how expensive air conditioning can be during the Texas summer, $250 plus overnight charging fees may seem like a small price to pay.
It doesn’t matter what charging hardware you use, but you must actively enroll in the program and become certified. Once enrolled, Ford recommends using the “Preferred Charge Times” feature in the FordPass mobile app and vehicle dashboard, which can prevent charging outside of free hours.
Advance
This deal may make the most sense for Ford. While the company’s trucks are very popular in Texas (just drive down I-35 and you’ll see), the F-150 Lightning didn’t sell as well as expected, forcing the automaker to scale back production toward the end of 2023. This is likely due to the price of the truck, with even the cheapest Lightning trim costing well over $50,000 even without government EV incentives. Ford had initially aimed to keep the vehicle under $42,000. Lightning production was also temporarily halted in February 2024 to conduct quality checks due to an unexplained issue.
Cost has long been the biggest obstacle to EV adoption: It’s still hard to find models under $40,000 today because the cost of manufacturing battery packs capable of delivering a range of more than 200 miles remains prohibitive. Efforts to bring down battery prices haven’t had much effect, at least as far as drivers are concerned.
