Beleaguered public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure has not kept pace with the expansion of EVs by automotive OEMs and may be falling further behind. So much so there is a risk to derail future growth of electrification, according to J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) public charging study.
This comes even after an increase in public charging stations across the U.S. and the recent moves to open Tesla Superchargers to non-Tesla owners due to deals with Ford, General Motors and Volvo to adopt Tesla’s North America Charging Standard (NACS). J.D. Power said this could improve the situation but not be able to help with overall satisfaction of EV charging stations.
In fact, satisfaction with public Level 2 charging has declined to 617 (on a 1,000-point scale), which is about 16 points lower than a year ago and the lowest level since the study began in 2021. The situation is worse with DC fast chargers dropping 20 points to 654.
The worse news is that public charging availability and satisfaction is the primary reason that drivers reject EVs and falling performance of fast charging stations — purported to be the path to a similar time frame of filling up an internal combustion engine — is further hindrance to EV acceptance, J.D. Power said.
"The declining customer satisfaction scores for public charging should be concerning automakers and, more broadly, to public charging stakeholders," said Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power. "The availability of public charging stations is still a critical obstacle, but it isn't the only one.”
These other issues include:
- Cost of EV charging
- Speed of EV charging
- Availability of things to do while waiting
- Reliability of public chargers
Supercharger network slightly better
Tesla owners are slightly more satisfied with the Supercharger network in the survey with 745 points out of 1,000. But when these Tesla owners go outside the network, satisfaction declines by 200 points.
“With greater adoption of the North American Charging Standard pioneered by Tesla, it may provide a boost in fast-charging satisfaction among owners of EVs from other brands as they begin to use Tesla’s Supercharger stations,” Gruber said. “We’re monitoring whether the use of Tesla Superchargers by non-Tesla owners will affect satisfaction, but the move does help address charger scarcity and offer access to industry-leading reliable chargers. It’s just too early to tell if it can reach the satisfaction levels of Tesla owners who are already part of that fully integrated Tesla ecosystem.”
Other findings
The survey found that EV owners choose Level 2 or DC fast chargers because of where the public chargers are located and to decrease the time spent at a station. About 30 minutes on average is what users spend at DC fast chargers.
“The data suggests that DC chargers — which charge faster — should be located along travel routes, while Level 2 chargers — essentially used for convenience charging — should be easily accessible near places where EV owners may already be visiting such as retail venues and entertainment venues,” Gruber said.
Of those surveyed, 20% said they visited a charging station but did not charge their vehicle. The main reason being that the charger was inoperable.
"The results of this year's study should be very concerning to all those involved in the transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric vehicles," Gruber said. “Although the majority of EV charging occurs at home, public charging needs to provide a much better experience across the board — not just for the users of today, but also to alleviate the concerns of skeptical future customers. A lot of work is underway to address these issues but there is certainly much more work to be done.”
