Survey finds electric vehicle owners frustrated by inoperable charging stations

American owners of electric vehicles (EVs) are facing a power infrastructure pockmarked with non-functioning charging stations, according to the newly published J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study.

According to the study, customer satisfaction with public Level 2 charging declined from last year, dropping to 633 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 643 in 2021 while satisfaction with the DC (direct current) fast charger segment stayed flat at 674.

Public charger operability and maintenance was a major complaint among EV users ”“ the index for ease of finding a location was 724 among users of DC fast chargers and 683 among users of Level 2 chargers. But the study also determined that one out of every five respondents ended up not charging their vehicle during their visit. Of those who didn”™t charge, 72% stated it was because the charging station either malfunctioned or was out of service.

“Public charging continues to provide challenges to overall EV adoption and current EV owners alike,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of global automotive at J.D. Power. “Not only is the availability of public charging still an obstacle, but EV owners continue to be faced with charging station equipment that is inoperable.”

Gruber added that more charging stations “need to be added to areas where there are currently gaps in heavily traveled routes and in high-density areas for people who don”™t have access to residential charging, but most importantly, designed with things for users to do while charging ”“ regardless of the use case. Then, we need to make sure those stations are reliable.”

The survey was based on input from 11,554 owners of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles who were survey from January through June.