Charging Challenges
An annual J.D. Power study finds eroding home EV charging contentment, though there are ways owners can boost theirs. The firm sees auto dealers playing a role.
Eighty-six percent of typical electric-vehicle charging is done in homes versus at public charging units, J.D. Power says.
Ford
Electric-vehicle owners could get more satisfaction from their home chargers if they’d take advantage of scheduled powering, according to new study results.
J.D. Power’s sixth annual survey of EV consumers gauged satisfaction with Levels 1 and 2 portable chargers and permanently mounted Level 2 units. Level 2 chargers provide more mileage per charging hour than their Level 1 counterparts.
Satisfaction either fell from last year or was flat, depending on the type of charger used, the company found in polling 5,400 owners of 2020 to 2026 model-year battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models.
Rising charging costs were a factor in the decline, and while there are ways to manage that cost, many owners aren’t taking advantage of them. That gap points up an area of opportunity for auto dealers to educate their customers in order to boost EV ownership satisfaction, J.D. Power said.
Permanently mounted Level 2 chargers offer owners the ability to schedule charging during off-peak hours for electricity cost savings, and scheduling is shown to boost owner satisfaction. But just 12% of EV owners say they're enrolled in utilities’ “smart charging” programs, and just half said their utilities offer variable rates in off-peak hours.
“For manufacturers, maximizing home charging satisfaction is crucial because the data shows that it’s instrumental in influencing future brand loyalty,” said Brent Gruber, who directs J.D. Power’s EV practice.
Not surprisingly, Tesla again bested other providers of permanently mounted Level 2 chargers when it comes to owner satisfaction, with a score of 771, according to the poll. The dominant U.S. EV maker has led every year of the survey. Nos. 2 and 3 followed closely, Emporia in second with a score of 761, and ClipperCreek in third at 760.
Though permanently mounted Level 2 chargers bring the most satisfaction, according to survey respondents, they also present the most problems due to their greater degree of technological complexity, J.D. Power said.
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