Public EV Charging Experience Continues to Languish as Federal Funds Expected to be Paused, Reduced or Eliminated
E-Vision Intelligence Report
February 2025
Key Findings
- One in Five (20%) Drivers Unable to Charge Vehicles at Public Charging Stations: In the fourth quarter of 2024, 20% of EV drivers who visited public charging stations were unable to charge their vehicles due to a range of issues from station outages and equipment malfunctions to long wait times and payment failures. The charge failure rate is up from 19% in Q3 2024 and 18% in Q4 2023.
- Public Charging Remains Top Barrier to EV Adoption: The top three barriers to EV consideration among active vehicle shoppers are lack of charging station availability (51%); time required to charge (49%); and limited driving distance per charge (47%).
- Tesla Owner Customer Satisfaction Strained by Expanded Access to Superchargers: The Tesla Supercharger network has consistently been the top performing network in the DC fast charging segment of the JD Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study, and that trend continues through Q4 2024 when the Supercharger network improved 27 points to 701 (on a 1,000-point scale) in overall satisfaction. Tesla owners, however, have been less satisfied with the expanded access of other brands to the Supercharger network. Overall satisfaction with DC fast charging among Tesla owners declined 2 points in 2024.
Executive Summary
The Trump administration announced plans to suspend the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, earlier this month. The initiative, which allocated approximately $5 billion in state funding to support the development of public charging stations, had a goal to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations every 50 miles. How will a possible end to the NEVI program affect the everyday public charging experience of EV owners, and could it deter future EV purchases?
This E-Vision Intelligence Report dives into key data points trending in each monthly JD Power EV Index update, along with other data points gathered from JD Power studies and pulse surveys, to offer a data-driven consumer perspective on the public charging customer experience.
Dead on Arrival
While overall customer satisfaction with the DC fast charging network has improved slightly through the fourth quarter of 2024, rising to 650 from 643, and satisfaction with Level 2 public charging has held steady (602), the number of failed attempts at charging is on the rise. Nationwide, across both DC fast charging and Level 2 charging networks, 20% of EV owners were unable to charge their vehicles when they arrived at a public charging station. The most common reasons for being unable to charge were charger out of service (62%); no charger available/too long to wait (18%); charger would not accept payment (11%); cable/connector damaged (9%); and chargers were blocked by non-charging vehicles (7%).
This 20% failure rate represents a single percentage point increase from Q3 2024 and a 2-percentage-point increase from Q4 2023.
Public Charging Experience Scares Prospective Buyers
While JD Power research consistently finds that home charging remains one of the most satisfying aspects of the EV ownership experience and many EV owners do the bulk of their charging at home, perceived flaws in the public charging network are still a major deterrent to prospective EV buyers. Through January 2025, the top three reasons among 20 possible options for rejecting an EV are lack of charging station availability (51%); time required to charge (49%); and limited driving distance per charge (47%).
Until manufacturers, charge point operators, utilities and other EV stakeholders address these lingering concerns, negative public perception of the public charging network will continue to be a headwind to EV adoption.
Expanded Supercharger Access is Great, Unless You Own a Tesla
Tesla has historically delivered a consistently positive public charging experience through its proprietary Supercharger network. In 2022, Tesla made the decision to open its network up to non-Tesla EVs, and by the end of 2024, nearly every major brand selling EVs in the United States had signed on to offer Supercharger access for their vehicles.
That’s been a good thing for non-Tesla drivers. The Supercharger network continues to lead the DC fast charging segment in customer satisfaction, with its average overall satisfaction score rising 27 points to 701 in Q4 2024. The Supercharger network gets high marks for ease of payment, ease of finding location and availability of chargers.
Among Tesla owners, however, overall satisfaction with the Supercharger network declines 2 points in 2024, falling to 736 from the year prior. Tesla was the only brand in the study that did not see overall improvement in customer satisfaction with the DC fast charging experience in 2024.
Methodology
This JD Power E-Vision Intelligence Report is based on data and insights from the JD Power EV Index, the JD Power EV Retail Share Forecast, the JD Power 2024 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study, the JD Power 2023 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study and the JD Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Consideration (EVC) Study. The JD Power EV Index is an analytics tool to benchmark the growing EV market in the United States. It tracks millions of data points aggregated into six categories—interest, availability, adoption, affordability, infrastructure and experience—to evaluate the progress to parity of EVs with gas-powered vehicles in the U.S. Each month, the JD Power electric vehicle practice will analyze these data points, and others to spotlight emerging trends and important shifts in consumer sentiment that are helping to define the fast-moving EV marketplace.
Find out More
This report was authored by Elizabeth Krear, vice president, electric vehicle practice, and Brent Gruber, executive director, electric vehicle practice. The JD Power E-Vision initiative is a company-wide program focused on maximizing JD Power industry-leading EV data, analytics, insights and solutions. Please contact us at the numbers below to connect with the authors or to learn more about the underlying research.
Media Contacts
Shane Smith; East Coast; 424-903-3665; [email protected]
Geno Effler, JD Power; West Coast; 714-621-6224; [email protected]