EV Owner Satisfaction with Home Chargers Declines, JD Power Says

by Michael Strong

Published: April 7th, 2026

ev owner satisfaction with home chargers declines jd power says

One of the primary benefits of electric vehicle ownership is avoiding the run to the gas station because you can charge at home daily. However, a new study from JD Power & Associates suggests EV owners aren’t as happy as they used to be with that experience.

Several studies have shown up to 86 percent of EV owners regularly charge at home. Doing so is convenient and cheaper, although not faster, than charging at DC Fast Charging stations available to the public.

According to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Home Charging Study, overall satisfaction of the owners of Level 1 (569 points out of 1,000) and Level 2 (710) portable chargers fell 12 and four points respectively. Level 2 permanently mounted home chargers remained unchanged at 733 points.

The study cited rising costs for home charging and the lack of education about how to keep charging costs low as the reasons for the rising unhappiness.

“Charging costs for EV owners are climbing, and there are several options out there for managing those costs through utility incentive programs and optimization of charging schedules during off-peak hours, yet only about 20% of owners say they received any kind of education or advice on home charging from their purchasing dealer,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at JD Power.

The big savings for home charging comes from scheduled charging, generally during overnight hours when usage rates are low and utilities offer prices breaks for users. Despite that advantage, the study shows just 38 percent of EV owners always schedule their charging times. Perhaps more importantly, 46 percent say they never schedule their charging times.

“Automakers, dealers and utility companies all have a role in helping owners understand options like utility incentives, programs and upgrading to Level 2 permanently mounted chargers, which have more advanced options for scheduling charging windows to maximize cost savings,” Gruber said.

“By providing better guidance and support, the EV ecosystem can help more owners save money, make more efficient charging choices and enjoy a more satisfying home charging experience. For manufacturers, maximizing home charging satisfaction is crucial because the data shows that it’s instrumental in influencing future brand loyalty.”

Education helps, but owners must take on some responsibility. Nearly 70 percent of EV owners know about smart charging options, but just 12 percent actually take advantage of them.

The study also offered some important insights from EV owners around charging, including the fact that home charging has risen to an average of $63 a month in the last 30 days, which is a $5 increase. As a result, satisfaction with the cost of charging falls to 687, down 11 points from the 2025 study.

New Englanders are on the hook for the highest monthly average at $99 while EV owners in the Mountain region are paying about a third of that at $36. Unsuprisingly, their satisfaction score came in at 771 while New Englanders were at 552.

[Images: Ford, FLO, Stellantis, General Motors]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

Michael Strong

Michael Strong has spent more than 25 years writing about the automotive industry. A Detroit-area native, he’s written about everything from local car shows to product reviews to financial news. Currently he writes and edits for a variety of national and local publications. He’s also a longtime member of the Automotive Press Association and the International Motor Press Association, and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Hail Southern! Despite a love for ’70s land yachts and BMWs from the late ’80s and early ’90s, his personal vehicle is neither of those.

More by Michael Strong

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 39 comments

Calrson Fan on Apr 07, 2026

I plug the Volt in anytime I'm home. I've looked into tiered rates, but Excel Energy in MN nails you so hard during the day it's pointless. Also I charge at work for free so there's that.

Level 2 is a must for home charging. Level 1 isn't gonna cut it for most. Secondly if Level 2 charging isn't able to keep up with your charging needs forget about owning an EV. And again , if you cannot charge at home forget about owning an EV. Pulling into a gas station is much easier than finding a public charging area that works. Plus you now have negated the lower fuel costs of owning an EV and added whole list of problems(waitng for it to charge) that you don't have w/home charging.

Regardless, owning an EV is currently more expensive than a gas car. So don't buy one with the false pretense that it is going to save you money. In the long run, TCO of an electric vehicle is higher than a gas. Used or new, doesn't matter. I am one person that doesn't care about that, to a point. I would have never bought my Volt new. too expensive. But used I was good with. Still, I will never tell you I'm saving money over a used Corolla or Civic that I could have purchased back in the spring of 2016. As a DD I much prefer electric over gas, for a number of reasons. Even if it costs me a bit more to run.

3 Reply
- MaintenanceCosts on Apr 07, 2026
  
  Typical Level 2 charging speeds will add around 30 miles for every hour on the charger, so a person who can't use L2 during their sleeping hours is a pretty extreme case.
  
  Like
- FreedMike on Apr 07, 2026
  
  "Level 1 isn't gonna cut it for most."
  It wouldn't work very well for me if it was my ONLY source of juice, but as a supplement, it's great. In fact, one of the biggest surprises for me was how effective Level 1 is, and I am not an occasional driver - my daily commute is about 70-75 miles, four days a week, depending on route. Here's how it works:
  1) Charge to 100% on Sunday at the local DC charger while I'm grocery shopping. Approx range at 100% is 250 miles (a bit less when it's colder). Shout out to VW for tossing in three years' free DC charging for me when I bought my car.
  2) Replace about 40-45 miles per evening on Level 1 (about 4 miles per hour but who cares? The car's sitting there doing nothing at 2 a.m.)
  3) Based on this, assuming I don't touch another charger for the work week (including my office's chargers, which aren't free), that leaves me with about 110 miles excess range. If I need a bit extra, I just use the work chargers, or hit the DC charger at the grocery store when I'm picking stuff up during the week.
  Current cost per mile: $.04. My old Jetta GLI cost me about $.14 a mile to run. It's worked brilliantly for me, and the car's an absolute sweetheart on the road to boot. I have no desire at all to go back to gas.
  
  1
Kcflyer on Apr 07, 2026

In western NY they tore down the summerset coal power plant a few years ago. Now their is an AI farm of some sort sucking power in the opposite direction. The components of the coal plant will likely be repurposed in a Chinese coal plant. So electricity demand goes up, supply goes down and prices go up dramatically. The only ones surprised by this evidently are democrat voters in the 8 NY counties that elected Kathy.

1 Reply

Recent Comments

Jam169859557 More regulation is needed for ALL vehicle lighting systems. [list=1][*]The lighting that is most blinding are the rapidly flashing red, blue and amber lights on emergency vehicles. The lights themselves are blinding, flashing so rapidly that it's impossible for even the sharpest eyes to adjust. What's worse, is the nature of the emergency requires a careful view of the area surrounding the emergency vehicle. There is something going on that needs to be seen. More flashing lights is not the solution.[/*][*]Brighter headlights need to be regulated. The tall riding vehicles do not need headlights positioned so high that they blind drivers in lower riding vehicles. And those heasdlights need to be aimed properly. When I first started driving my 2020 Subaru Outback, many drivers would flash their lights, hoping I would dim my lights. This stopped after I performed am easy adjustment that tilted the beam lower. Late model Subaru headlamps are designed with a sharp cutoff that project less glare above the hood line. When the headlights are properly aimed, other drivers are not blinded by the beam.[/*][*]Customized light assemblies make it more difficult to see the marker lights (tail lamps, turn signals and side marker lamps) that have been tinted. There are many municiple codes that prohibit this tinting, but these laws are seldom enforced.[/*][/list=1]Solutions: Tight controls on emergency vehicle lighting. In trying to make these vehicles more visible, a dangerous side effect is reducing the ability of drivers to see the surrounding perils.Headlight design regulations that reduce the height of the headlight assemblies. Just because a pickup truck has a hood that sits 4 feet abouve the pavement, it does not mean the headlights need to be so high. Owneres should maintain proper adjustments to their vehicle headlights.Establish and enforce regulation requiring a illumination standard be followed.
Stl170698708 as someone who hates big government, and their interference;but you can add me to the list of people that are blinded by the lights.unfortunately "the poop is out of the horse and no way is it going back in"They have had 5 years to make lights bigger, badder and brighter because in the vehicle work it is go big or go home!Trucks are the worst because so many people use them to express their dominance and that is big, big, big $$ both at the Original Purchase and in the Aftermarket world.If, we are so lucky to get some good government regulation on this it will also take some very good Court enforcement to get the aftermarket people with fines and lawsuits.Much like the EPA did with the Diesel Tuner Industry that felt emission regulations didn't apply to them.This is from someone that owns said pickup truck with the same bright headlights,but i only use the truck when I have too and always turn off the Fog lights when driving in traffic.
Art65765977 I saw a porsche 911 with the most amazing headlights from behind approaching the Sunshine skyway in Florida. The pattern was 108 degrees across sweeping the road like a broom. My brother and I were amazed. I don't know what it looked like from the front but i am sure it was better than American cars
Master Baiter This is what happens when you take a chance on a startup auto company. Designing and building cars is hard.
Pwrwrench IIRC the most efficient version of the CRX was not sold in California, due to the "tune" of the 50+ mpg engine not meeting the emissions standards. The ones sold in California were rated in the upper 40s.Also, nearly all of these that I saw in SoCal were red, except for a few white ones.