Prospective car buyers often point to the limited landscape of public electric vehicle chargers as one barrier to adoption, but according to a new study from J.D. Power, customer satisfaction with public EV chargers is improving.
J.D. Power’s 2024 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study, which measures satisfaction of publicly accessible direct current fast chargers and Level 2 chargers, was released last month.
According to the study, EV owners rated public DC fast chargers an overall satisfaction score of 664 on a 1,000-point scale — a 10-point improvement as compared to 2023. By comparison, Level 2 chargers declined three points year over year, to an overall satisfaction score of 614.
In addition, the report found that EV charger satisfaction improved consistently over the past two quarters.
“While the customer satisfaction scores for public charging continue to prompt concern, the results offer reasons for optimism,” Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power said in a statement. He said that the results suggest “progress in many areas that EV owners care about,” like the speed and availability of chargers.
The ten factors that influence the satisfaction rating include: ease of charging; speed of charging; physical condition of the charging station; availability of chargers; convenience of the charger location; things to do while charging; how safe one feels at the charger location; ease of finding the charger location; cost of charging; and ease of payment.
However, customers were not equally satisfied with public DC fast chargers and Level 2 chargers.
EV owners are much more satisfied with fast chargers, for which they rated the speed 622 on a 1,000-point scale, 34 points higher than 2023’s speed satisfaction rating of 588. Meanwhile, satisfaction with the speed of Level 2 chargers actually declined by 4 points this year, to a score of 451.
“DC fast charger speed is an important area of progress for the industry this year,” said Gruber.
Per J.D. Power, the fact that non-Tesla owners can charge at Tesla Superchargers as of 2024 contributes to the improvement in DC fast charger satisfaction. “Overall, both Tesla and non-Tesla owners find charging their vehicles at Tesla Supercharger facilities is most satisfying,” said Gruber.
J.D. Power’s results stem from a survey of 9,605 owners of EVs or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
Overall, Gruber said, the study reveals “hopeful signs that the industry is moving in the right direction,” though there is still room for improvement. “Sadly, the growth of public chargers, and especially DC fast chargers that EV owners increasingly favor, is not keeping up with the number of EVs in service,” he said.
