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Public EV charging keeps getting worse, according to new study

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Despite growing electric vehicle adoption in the US, satisfaction with the electric vehicle charging experience continues to suffer. That's according to a new study on the EV public charging experience conducted by JD Power, which together with PlugShare has been asking EV owners about their satisfaction levels since 2021. This year, the study found that people are unhappy with charge times, and one in five reported visiting a charger but being unable to charge.

The not-great state of public EV charging is a topic of much conversation—a story about fast charger reliability garnered almost 1,200 comments last year. Just about everyone who has tried to fast-charge a non-Tesla EV will have a horror story or two, and it's a problem the automakers are well aware of.

That's why the past few months have seen a flurry of announcements from car companies announcing a switch from the Combined Charging Standard 1 plug—until now, the de facto industry standard for non-Tesla EVs—to Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) plug. In doing so, those OEMs gain access to the Tesla Supercharger network for their customers starting in 2024.

(For more on different charging standards and plugs, see our explainer.)

DC fast charging

Looking at JD Power's data, one can see why. For the third year running, the Tesla Supercharger network leads the way in customer satisfaction for DC fast charging, with an unchanged score between 2022 and 2023. (The research firm asked EV owners about ease of charging, speed of charging, the physical condition of the charger, charger availability, how convenient the location is, how much it costs to charge, and how easy it is to pay for the charging.) Advertisement

The other fast-charging networks did not fare so well, and average satisfaction with DC charging dropped from 674 (out of 1,000) last year to 654. Electrify America appears to have the most-frustrated customers in 2023, with satisfaction declining from 614 to 538.
  • JD Power 2023 US Electric Vehicle Experience—Public Charging Satisfaction Study
  • JD Power 2022 US Electric Vehicle Experience—Public Charging Satisfaction Study
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Those networks have also announced support for the NACS plug, but there are no guarantees that simply changing the plug type will result in a superior charging experience. NACS uses the same communication protocol as CCS, so there's still plenty of potential for software issues when plugging in. And the high degree of optimization between car and charger is a major reason for such high satisfaction among Tesla owners when using Superchargers.

"With greater adoption of the North American 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," said Brent Gruber, executive director of JD Power's EV practice.

"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," he said. Advertisement

AC charging

There is even greater dissatisfaction with the state of public AC (or level 2) charging, which is now at 617 out of 1,000. In particular, EV owners have been most displeased with the speed of AC charging, with satisfaction declining 36 points year on year. Tesla actually had to settle for second place when it came to AC charging satisfaction—its network of destination chargers was narrowly beaten by Volta.
  • JD Power 2023 US Electric Vehicle Experience—Public Charging Satisfaction Study
  • JD Power 2022 US Electric Vehicle Experience—Public Charging Satisfaction Study
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Interestingly, the rate of failed charging visits appears to be regionally influenced. Nationally, 20 percent of users reported failed visits, but in the Miami–Port St. Lucie–Ft. Lauderdale Combined Statistical Area, the number was as high as 35 percent, suggesting that EV charging is just one more thing that doesn't work right in Florida. But the Seattle-Tacoma, Denver-Aurora, and Dallas-Fort Worth CSAs all reported a 29 percent rate.

"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," Gruber said.

Thankfully, there are signs that some of that work will take place. JD Power found (unsurprisingly) that EV owners wanted convenient charging locations, including fast chargers along road trip routes. That's already in the works—between now and 2027, the New Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program will spend $5 billion for new DC fast chargers along highway corridors and another $2.5 billion for AC chargers in areas that are underserved, and that money comes with strict uptime requirements.