Broken Public EV Chargers Could Be A Bigger Issue Than A Lack Of Stations
One of the widely reported problems with electric vehicle adoption has been the lack of charging infrastructure, but apparently, that’s not the only issue. A new survey revealed that many or potentially even most of the roughly 41,000 public charging stations in the U.S. don’t even work properly.
Low Satisfaction With EV Charging Stations
J.D. Power surveyed plug-in hybrid and electric vehicle owners during the first six months of the year and found that the public charging infrastructure is severely lacking in functionality — even though there are more public charging stations in operation than ever before.
According to the survey, customers are less satisfied with the Level 2 public charging infrastructure this year, with the satisfaction level falling from 643 last year to 633 this year. The scale is 1,000 points. Satisfaction with the faster DC fast-charging infrastructure is slightly higher but flat with last year at 674.
Tesla Destination charging stations received the highest marks in Level 2 chargers with a score of 680, and Tesla Superchargers had the highest score at 739.
Survey Reveals Many Broken EV Charging Plugs
According to J.D. Power, scores of 745 for DC fast-chargers and 699 for Level 2 charging plugs shows that most EV owners are fairly satisfied with how easy it is to charge their vehicles using the available public infrastructure. These scores demonstrate that EV owners are reporting problems using public charging plugs because the plugs are actually broken and not because they don’t know how to use them.
The survey also found that almost all other attributions of public charging stations score lower, some of which are significantly lower. Satisfaction with the costs of charging are exceptionally low at 473 for DC fast chargers and 446 for Level 2 chargers.
Plug-in hybrid and EV drivers report high satisfaction with locating a public charging plug at 724 for DC fast chargers and 683 for Level 2 chargers. However, maintenance is apparently a common and ongoing issue with most stations.
One out of every five respondents reported that they didn’t charge their vehicle when they visited a public charging station. Seventy-two percent of those who didn’t charge their vehicle said it was because the station was either malfunctioning or out of service.
Differences By Region
Driver satisfaction also varied by region. The Pacific region has the most public chargers and the highest concentration of EV owners, but they aren’t as satisfied with the availability and condition of the public chargers as those in other areas.
EV owners in the West North Central region, which includes the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota, reported the highest level of satisfaction with the availability of public chargers. Meanwhile, drivers in the East North Central region, which covers Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio, reported the highest satisfaction with the condition of the public chargers.
This article originally appeared on ValueWalk
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