Key Takeaways
- Ford is partnering with TXU Energy in Texas to offer free EV charging between 7PM and 1PM.
- You need to be a Ford EV owner signed up to TXU’s services.
- There are also cash bonuses, but you may need to stay with TXU for at least a year.
Texans who own something like an F-150 Lightning or a Mustang Mach-E may be in luck. Ford has announced a partnership with one of the state’s largest power providers, TXU Energy, to launch a promotional program cutting the bill of charging. Under the TXU Free EV Miles plan, Ford EV owners can now get a credit for any charging they do between 7PM at night and 1PM the next day. Since most EV owners do overnight home charging anyway, this could amount to completely free EV top-ups unless you’re on a road trip.
The program is clearly meant to lock you into the Ford and TXU ecosystems. Ford is offering a $100 “welcome” bonus, while TXU is offering an additional $250 — but only if you stay enrolled with the provider for at least a year. Considering how expensive air conditioning can get during a Texas summer, $250 plus overnight charging fees may be a drop in the bucket.
It doesn’t matter what charging hardware you use, but you do have to actively enroll in the program and get verified. Once you’re in, Ford suggests using the Preferred Charging Times feature in its FordPass mobile app and vehicle dashboards, which can prevent charging outside of the free window.
Making inroads
The deal may make the most sense for Ford. While its trucks are enormously popular in Texas — just take a drive down I35 — the F-150 Lightning hasn’t sold as well as expected, which pushed the automaker to lower production output towards the end of 2023. That’s presumably because of the truck’s pricetag, since even the cheapest Lightning trim is well over $50,000 before any government EV incentives. Ford had originally been aiming to keep the vehicle under $42,000. In February 2024, Lightning production was even temporarily paused to perform quality checks for an unspecified problem.
Cost has long been the biggest obstacle to EV adoption. Even now it’s difficult to find many models under $40,000, since battery packs capable of supplying 200-plus miles of range remain a huge manufacturing expense. Efforts to lower battery prices haven’t made much of a dent, at least as far as drivers are concerned.
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