The reliability of the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure in the United States is a major concern for EV owners, according to a recent survey conducted by JD Power. The survey revealed that 20 percent of respondents have experienced situations where they arrived and left a charging station without gaining any range on their EV. This can be attributed to broken charging equipment as well as long queues of people waiting to charge.
The survey used a 1,000-point scale to measure overall satisfaction with DC fast charging experiences, and the results showed a decline from 674 to 654. Similarly, satisfaction with Level 2 charging stations also decreased from 633 to 617. These are the lowest scores recorded since JD Power began conducting the survey in 2021.
Brent Gruber, JD Power’s executive director of EV practice, expressed concern about the declining customer satisfaction with public charging. While there are more chargers on the road compared to last year, there are also more problems, some of which are unrelated to broken equipment. Gruber highlighted the cost and speed of charging, as well as the lack of things to do while waiting for the vehicle to charge, as the least satisfying aspects for EV owners.
Location plays a significant role for EV owners when it comes to charging. People prefer Level 2 chargers near retail areas so that they can shop while they wait. Level 2 charging is slower, providing an average of around 25 miles of range per hour of charging. However, since 80 percent of charging happens at home, EV owners primarily use Level 2 chargers for convenience. On the other hand, EV owners prefer to see DC fast chargers, which offer an average of over 100 miles of range per hour, along travel routes.
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One of the challenges with EV charging is the lack of activities available to alleviate boredom during the charging process. Although some automakers like Tesla provide streaming videos and games, JD Power identified a lack of “things to do while waiting” as a hindrance to the overall EV experience. Many EV owners spend about 30 minutes charging and prioritize continuing their trip as soon as possible.
The survey also revealed the worst place to charge an EV: the Miami-Port Saint Lucie-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area, which had a 35 percent rate of chargeless visits. In comparison, the Seattle-Tacoma, Denver-Aurora, and Dallas-Fort Worth metro areas had a slightly better 29 percent rate. Conversely, the Cleveland-Akron-Canton metro area had the lowest failure rate at just 12 percent among those who attempted to charge their EVs.
In terms of charging networks, Volta stations emerged as the best Level 2 charger. The company funds its chargers by running ads on large screens and does not require an app to activate. Users can simply plug in their EVs, go shopping, and return to a fully charged vehicle. JD Power survey takers gave Volta a score of 665, making it the highest-rated Level 2 charger. Tesla’s destination chargers ranked second with a score of 661, followed by ChargePoint at 618, SemaConnect at 578, Electrify America at 542, and Blink with the lowest score at 535.
Not surprisingly, Tesla owners reported high satisfaction with their charging experience. This is largely due to the company’s extensive and reliable DC fast-charging Supercharger network, which earned a score of 745 (compared to 739 last year). JD Power argues that dissatisfaction and unreliability in charging are turning consumers away from EVs. Some automakers have started adopting Tesla’s Superchargers, using the company’s NACS (North American Charging Standard) plug in their own EVs. However, there is still room for improvement in the public charging network. Gruber noted that it is “too early to tell” if opening up the Tesla Supercharger network to other automakers will increase overall satisfaction with EV charging.
While automakers such as Ford, GM, Rivian, Volvo, Polestar, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz, and Fisker plan to implement the standardized Tesla NACS connectors on their future cars, the timelines for implementation are not set in stone. This means that there may be another year of dubious charging experiences before improvements are seen.
