Ford Motor Co is eliminating the end of lease buyout option for all-electric vehicles that were delivered to the customer after June 15, 2022. Any vehicles delivered before that date will still have the option to buy the vehicle at the end of their lease. There are some states where the date will be extended to the end of the year due to state rules.

There is debate over whether this represents an attempt by the company to maximize profits by exploiting high used-vehicle prices, or if it represents a bolder attempt to reconfigure the model of car ownership around a constant stream of income from leased vehicles. Some think Ford would prefer to eliminate the fluctuating sales of privately-owned vehicles, which allow customers to restrict purchasing during periods of higher prices such as inflationary periods, and can produce lulls in revenue.

Another theory is EVs are advancing rapidly, and thus these cars are expected to be obsolete by the end of the lease period.

Still others think this is an attempt by Ford to retain control over the car batteries, for purposes of recycling in an environment where the raw materials for batteries are getting more expensive as EV production becomes more mainstream and competitive.

For its part, Ford says they wish to retain ownership of the vehicles to better manage the recycling of raw materials.

The Mach-E is presently under a recall for a battery connector which can overheat, and cause the vehicle to lose power. Some have speculated Ford might also be skittish about such an issue causing a battery fire, and figures it would be best if the dealership dealt with any older EV’s before clearing them to return to private ownership, rather than have a spate of fires due to older models of their brand of EV’s at some point.

Ford CEO Jim Farley had implied Ford was looking at changing the whole process of car ownership a month ago, implying they would get rid of dealerships, and move toward an online purchasing model devoid of haggling.

At the Bernstein 38th Annual Strategic Decisions Conference, Farley said, “We’ve got to go to non-negotiated price. We’ve got to go to 100-percent online. There’s no [dealer] inventory, it goes directly to the customer. And 100 [percent] remote pickup and delivery.”