More than 100 Navistar dealer locations are ready to guide fleets through their electric vehicle (EV) journey, the truck and bus OEM has announced.

With more than 100 EV authorized dealers now, and many more in process, Navistar said it will soon have more than 30% of its dealer locations ready to support the sale and service of both International and IC Bus EVs. These dealers cover 41 states and seven of 10 Canadian Provinces.

To be EV authorized, Navistar 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 fully prepared to diagnose all aspects of EVs and keep customer vehicles on the road.

Collectively, this represents a significant investment for dealers and is a testament to their commitment to a seamless customer experience, according to Navistar.

"The International and IC Bus dealer network live our customer-first value and that is no different in the transition to EVs," said Debbie Shust, VP, 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."

Helping Customers Deal with Unknowns

Navistar said its EV authorized dealers understand that the journey to electric vehicles is filled with uncertainty. They are focused on the entire 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," said Rick Otten, president of Cumberland, an International and IC Bus dealer with nine locations across 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."

Navistar supports dealers and customers with a dedicated Zero Emissions team, following a three-step consultative approach to help customers more easily transition to EVs. These efforts include:

• Consulting. Understanding concerns, motivations to adopt EVs, and discuss short- and long-term plans. This allows Navistar to help craft an adoption roadmap for the customer which can include route and range analysis, grant funding and charging and infrastructure planning.

• Charging & Infrastructure. Understanding power needs, assisting the customer in making the appropriate charging hardware decisions based on their specific routes and application, and future-proofing operations by looking at the customer's long term EV goals. Navistar and its partners can support customers in the design and build out of infrastructure and charging.

• Customer Onboarding. Coordination of truck and body build timing, charging and infrastructure build as well as customer, driver and other training to ensure that when the vehicle arrives, it can be woven into customers' operations with minimal disruption.

For more information about how Navistar supports customers through the consulting process listen to the EV Road Map Podcast.