Rising Rates Are Buzzkills For Electric Vehicle Home Charging Satisfaction, Says J.D. Power

The cost of most life essentials has skyrocketed in the last two years, and that includes the cost of buying electricity. Folks who charge their vehicle at home aren’t happy about that, naturally, but according to a new J.D. Power study, the rising costs are resulting in reports of less satisfaction with home charging.

More than two-thirds (68%) of EV owners use a Level 2 permanently mounted station, according to the study, but their overall satisfaction declined 12 points year over year to 740 on a 1,000-point scale.

While Level 2 portable and Level 2 permanently mounted charging stations are operated by 83% of all users, their satisfaction with the cost of charging declined from the 2022 study by more than 30 points in each segment.

Also driving down overall satisfaction in the study is speed for all three home charging segments. The 2023 study found that owners of 2022 and 2023 model EVs are less satisfied with their home charging speed (605 and 597, respectively) than owners of 2021 model EVs (616) and 2020 model EVs (608).

Charging at home, preferably overnight while you’re sleeping, remains the ideal for most EV drivers. (Home charging, of course, isn’t an option for millions of Americans who live in cities – another problem for another article.)

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 at home.

There are also programs designed to save EV owners money when 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 of these benefits and thus people don’t take advantage of them. As the EV marketplace continues to grow, Gruber says, brands that help owners take advantage of these offerings will be in a much better position down the road.

Satisfaction is measured across eight factors: fairness of retail price; cord length; size of charger; ease of winding/storing cable; cost of charging; charging speed; ease of use; and reliability.

Here are the key findings of the report.

· Self-education is key, especially as prices jump.

Just 51% of EV owners say they are knowledgeable about utility company programs for charging their vehicle at home, which is up slightly from 49% a year ago.

“Customers are looking to utility companies to help manage rising costs,” said Adrian Chung, director of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power. “By increasing awareness of available rebates or incentives, EV owners will benefit. This can snowball into helping potential EV owners make a more informed purchase decision, as well as minimizing home charging concerns and supporting greater EV adoption.”

· When you charge your vehicle influences your satisfaction

More than one-third (35%) of owners say they always schedule a time to charge their vehicle at home, while 49% do not use any scheduling. Among those choosing to schedule home charging via an app, satisfaction is highest when using the vehicle mobile app (739) rather than the charger mobile app (706).

Anyone who has spent 20 minutes on hold with Chargepoint when the charger they find won’t work and it’s 11 degrees out knows this particularly level of aggravation.

· Where you charge makes a difference

Overall satisfaction with Level 2 home charging is lower in all nine regions in this year’s study than a year ago, with New England having the largest decline of 27 points. The Level 2 satisfaction gap between regions is now 96 points (+20 from a year ago), ranging from a low of 689 in the New England region to a high of 785 in the East South Central region.

· Charging with Level 2 (the quickest) rather than Level 1 (slower) influences satisfaction enormously.

Satisfaction improves 179 points when moving up from a Level 1 portable charger (561) to a Level 2 permanently mounted charger (740). Across the eight factors in the study, owner satisfaction is higher in seven factors once the switch is made to a Level 2 permanently mounted charger, especially with charging speed (+373 points). A majority (60%) of current Level 1 users say they are likely to upgrade their home charging station to either a Level 2 permanently mounted charger or a Level 2 portable unit.

Tesla rules.

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.