EV Drivers Less Satisfied with Public Charging

As more electric vehicles (EVs) hit U.S. roads, the more stress it places on public charging infrastructure. According to the recently released JD Power 2022 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study, a shortage of public charging stations and broken or inoperable equipment are two major factors contributing to a decline in owner satisfaction with public EV chargers.

With EV sales gaining momentum, more electric vehicles are on the road than ever before. This also means more people are attempting to charge their EVs in public. While automakers, utilities, and other stakeholders have built more charging infrastructure for these new EVs, the 2022 U.S. EVX Public Charging Study reveals a decline in customer satisfaction with public Level 2 charging stations. These stations, often found at hotels, shopping malls, and other places where drivers expect to spend some time, see a decline in satisfaction from 643 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2021 to 633 this year. Meanwhile, EV owner satisfaction with DC fast chargers remains steady at 674.

The 2022 U.S. EVX Public Charging Study measures EV owner satisfaction with both Level 2 and DC fast-charging stations in 10 areas:

• Ease of charging
• Speed of charging
• Cost of charging
• Ease of payment
• Ease of finding a particular location
• Convenience of a particular location
• Things to do while charging
• How safe the driver felt at a particular location
• Availability of chargers
• Physical condition of the charging location

Two other recent JD Power studies—the 2022 U.S. Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) Study and the 2022 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study—find that questions about public charging infrastructure prevent some car shoppers from buying electric. These findings remain an issue given the 2022 U.S. EVX Public Charging Study results.

“Public charging continues to provide challenges to overall EV adoption and current EV owners alike,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of global automotive at JD Power. “Not only is the availability of public charging still an obstacle, but EV owners continue to be faced with charging station equipment that is inoperable.”

Key findings of the study include:

• Most EV owners find charging relatively easy, rating ease of charging at a Level 2 charging station at 699 while rating DC fast chargers at 745.
• It’s the rest of the charging experience that needs improvement. A whopping 20 percent of respondents who went to a public charging station didn’t even charge their vehicle. The reason for this—cited by 72 percent of those who didn’t charge—is that the station was somehow broken or out of service.
• The cost of public charging is not popular, scoring just 473 for DC fast chargers and 446 for Level 2 chargers.
• Generally speaking, an EV driver’s satisfaction with public charging is connected to where they live. In places with more EVs, like California and the Pacific Northwest, there are more chargers—but still not enough. In contrast, drivers in the East North Central region (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) are highly satisfied with their public chargers. But not as much as EV drivers in the West North Central region (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), which has the highest level of satisfaction with the availability of public charging.

Among service providers, one company is bucking the charging dissatisfaction trend, just as it has for over a decade. Indeed, Tesla receives the highest rating in both public charger categories. Among Level 2 charging stations, Tesla Destination achieves the highest score (680). Meanwhile, Tesla Supercharger ranks highest among DC fast chargers with a score of 739 and is the only brand to rank above the industry average.

Despite the current challenges, things could look different next year. Automakers are building more EVs that can take advantage of the high-powered DC fast chargers, which could lead to shorter wait times. Additionally, the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program will provide funds to states to build more public charging infrastructure for all EVs. But as the 2022 U.S. EVX Public Charging Study shows, simply building stations isn’t enough.

“Stations need to be added to areas where there are currently gaps in heavily traveled routes and in high-density areas for people who don’t have access to residential charging, but most importantly, designed with things for users to do while charging—regardless of the use case,” Gruber said. “Then, we need to make sure those stations are reliable.”

JD Power is the source of information for this article. It was accurate on May 26, 2022, but it may have changed since that date.

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