EV charging satisfaction continues to drop, J.D. Power says

Satisfaction with public charging during the first half of the year fell to its lowest level recorded in J.D. Power studies and as electric vehicle adoption increases, industry leaders should be concerned, the research firm said.

Most consumers who are reluctant to buy an EV worry that public chargers are not available. Poor charger performance could be another hindrance, said Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power.

The firm expects EV adoption to hit a hockey-stick curve in the next few years. EV sales are growing more than three times faster than public charger installation, Gruber said.

Automakers and public charging stakeholders, such as network operators and charger manufacturers, should improve the charging experience "before it becomes a runaway train," Gruber told Automotive News.

Charging satisfaction at both Level 2 chargers and Level 3 chargers declined in nearly every category of the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study released Wednesday. J.D. Power launched the study in 2021.

Satisfaction with Level 2 charging declined to an average of 617 on a 1,000-point scale, 16 points lower than a year ago. Level 2 chargers, which take several hours to power a battery, are typically used at home or work or to top off during daily activities, such as shopping or dining at a restaurant.

Satisfaction with Level 3, or fast chargers, sunk 20 points to an average 654. Fast chargers can take 20 minutes to restore power to 80 percent and are typically used when a driver is traveling long distances and the battery is depleted or won't get the car to the destination. It's often a planned charging stop.

Tesla earned the highest fast-charging satisfaction score at 739. Tesla was the only company to score above average. For Level 2 charging, Volta ranked best at 665, followed by Tesla at 661.

The study was fielded in collaboration with PlugShare, an EV driver app maker and research firm. More than 15,000 owners of battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles participated from January through June 2023.

The study measures satisfaction in ease of charging; speed of charging; physical condition of charging station; availability of chargers; convenience of this location; things to do while charging; how safe you feel at this location; ease of finding this location; cost of charging; and ease of payment.

Satisfaction continues to decline as more mainstream consumers purchase EVs, Gruber said. Early adopters were willing to overlook charging setbacks in favor of trying the latest technology, Gruber said.

"As we shift toward these mainstream consumers, you aren't going to see the same level of acceptance to put up with some of those challenges," he said.

Many EV drivers are unable to charge when they try. One in five charging attempts failed in the first half of the year, a percentage that's been consistent since the beginning of 2022.

"The time to improve this is now," Gruber said. "Public charging and the perception of it is a tremendous barrier to EV adoption."