An electric charging station on Cambridge Street on Tuesday, June 7, 2022, in Boston, Mass. (Staff Photo By Nancy Lane/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
Electric vehicle owners are dealing with a large number of inoperable charging stations and a slow rollout of public charging infrastructure, hurdles that could hamper adoption even as the technology looks to be gaining momentum, according to a report by Automotive News.
EVs accounted for about 5% of U.S. new light-vehicle registrations during the first half of this year, up from 2.5% during the same period of 2021.
“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,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of global automotive at J.D. Power.
Driver satisfaction with Level 2 public chargers is falling, according to J.D. Power’s annual U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study, released Wednesday.
Its survey of more than 11,000 EV and plug-in hybrid owners found satisfaction declined to 633 from 643 last year on a 1,000-point scale. Satisfaction with DC fast chargers stayed the same, at 674. Level 2 chargers restore 20 to 25 miles of range per hour. DC fast chargers work at a rate of about 100 miles of range per hour and some even faster.
