Higher US Electricity Rates Lowers EV Charging Satisfaction

The growing electric vehicle (EV*) marketplace is seeing rising electricity rates partly due to US inflation. This has resulted in lower satisfaction with home charging, according to the J.D. Power 2023 US Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Home Charging Study,^SM released today. More than two-thirds (68%) of EV owners use a Level 2 permanently mounted station, but their overall satisfaction declined 12 points year-over-year to 740 on a 1000-point scale.

“Whether you’re an automaker, dealer or utility company participating in the EV ecosystem, improving the EV owner experience with respect to home charging should be a common goal shared by all,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power.

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“There are programs available today that will help EV owners with the startup costs, such as installing or upgrading to a faster Level 2 charger. There are also programs designed to save EV owners money with the ongoing costs of charging their vehicle, like scheduling to charge during the most affordable time of the day. However, J.D. Power sees that there is little awareness and use of these benefits. As the EV marketplace continues to grow, brands that help owners take advantage of these offerings will be in a much better position down the road,” Gruber claimed.

The study examines the home charging experience of EV owners in all three charger segments, but only the Level 2 permanently mounted charging station segment is award eligible. Tesla ranks highest among Level 2 permanently mounted charging stations with a score of 790. GRIZZL-E (757) ranks second and Emporia (754) ranks third. The segment average is 740. It is not clear if the ratings are statistically significant from each other.

The U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Home Charging Study, now in its third year, is the product of a collaboration with PlugShare, an EV driver app maker and research firm. This study sets the standard for benchmarking satisfaction with the critical attributes that affect the total or overall EV home charging experience for both battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) at Power. Survey respondents for the study included 13,860 owners of 2017-2023 model year BEVs and PHEVs. The study was fielded from December 2022 through February 2023.

*Electric vehicles (EV) include battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).