Another sign of Ford’s Excruciating EV woes: They’re Trotting out a duo of giveaways

Get your free charger here! And that’s not all folks — you also get free installation!

Yup, that is what Ford is shouting as it tries to reverse slumping sales of its much-ballyhooed Mustang Mach-E crossover and F-150 Lightning pickup truck.

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In the deal, which is scheduled to run through the end of the year, people who buy or lease a Ford EV during are eligible for a $1,310 charger along with installation in their garage or driveway, which can run more than $1,000. For buyers who are unable to have a home charger, such as apartment dwellers, Ford is offering a $2,000 cash incentive through its dealers.

In part, the move is an attempt to overcome what has become a barrier to EV ownership: range anxiety, or worries about running out of a charge while on a longish trek. In this regard, Ford says it hopes to allay the concerns by providing chargers in buyers’ garages and driveways that they can use to power up overnight, sort of like charging a cell phone.

Martin Delonis, senior manager of strategy in Ford’s Model e EV unit, took the scenario even further, telling reporters that “It’s not range anxiety we’re dealing with, it’s change anxiety,” adding that the home charging with mean that “An electric vehicle fills up when you’re not paying attention.”

The move comes after truly disappointing EV sales for the Detroit behemoth, with, as we reported last month , only 89 a day of the Lightning being sold as opposed to 2,281 of the gas-powered F-150s. This disappointing performance has led Ford to cut production and prices as well and canceling or delaying new EV models. It’s all hugely costly — the automaker has projected it will lose as much as $5.5 billion on its electric vehicle business this year and is rushing to develop low-cost plug-in models to compete with cheap Chinese products, such as the impressive BVD Seagull , which retails for just $10,000.

And it has meant that the company’s CEO, Jim Farley, has had to pull back from his heady prediction that EVs would make up about half of Ford’s sales by the end of the decade. Instead, they now make up only 4.4% of the automaker’s revenue.

No wonder they’re pulling the incentives out of their pockets.

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