EV Sales Falling, But EV Owners Remain Loyal, JD Power Says

by Michael Strong

Published: February 24th, 2026

ev sales falling but ev owners remain loyal jd power says

The predicted decline of electric vehicle (EV) following the end of the $7,500 federal tax credit last fall has been well documented. However, a new JD Power study shows that EVs retain a certain level of popularity.

According to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Ownership Study, EV owners are happier with their plug-in cars, trucks, and crossover than ever before. More importantly, 96 percent of EV buyers say they’re considering buying or leasing another EV for their next vehicle. That’s the highest number recorded in the five years the company’s conducted the study.

“EV market share has declined sharply following the discontinuation of the federal tax credit program in September 2025, but that dip belies steadily growing customer satisfaction among owners of new EVs,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at JD Power.

“Improvements in battery technology, charging infrastructure and overall vehicle performance have driven customer satisfaction to its highest level ever. What’s more, the vast majority of current EV owners say they will consider purchasing another EV for their next vehicle, regardless of whether they benefited from the now-expired federal tax credit.”

There’s an old adage that if you give consumers what they want, they’ll keep coming back. Well, EV producers seem to be taking that to heart. The biggest issue bothering EV owners recently has been the lack of reliable of public chargers. The new study shows charging station reliability is up.

In fact, of all the areas Power officials queried, it showed the best improvement. Satisfaction among premium BEV owners is 652 (on a 1,000-point scale) and 511 among mass market owners, up 101 and 115 points, respectively, year over year.

The continued growth of publicly available chargers and opening of the Tesla Supercharger network have notably improved satisfaction among mass market BEV owners during the past several years, officials noted. Furthermore, satisfaction among Tesla owners is rebounding as they adapt to the expanded access of the charging network.

Additionally, the quality of the vehicles themselves appears to have improved, making EV owners very happy. The biggest area of improvement is the reduction of squeaks and rattles coming from the vehicle during driving — and the scores rose for luxury EVs as well as mass market vehicles.

If you are in the market for a new EV and what to know what owners like their vehicles the best, well the highest scoring vehicle in the study was the Tesla Model 3 with a score of 804 (out of 1,000). The Tesla Model Y, which is the world’s best-selling vehicle, was second and the BMW i4 was third. They also carried the top three premium spots, while the Ford Mustang Mach-E was the top-ranked mass market model, scoring 760. The Hyundai Ioniq 6 was next at 748 with the Kia EV9 third at 745.

Satisfaction among owners of premium BEVs averages 786, up from 756 last year, while satisfaction among owners of mass market BEVs averages 727, versus 725 in 2025.

[Images: Tesla, Ford, Hyundai]

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#EVs #JDPower #ElectricVehicles #Tesla #Ford

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.

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14 of 46 comments

Master Baiter on Feb 24, 2026

I like our EV as a third vehicle, and in some ways it's superior to ICE vehicles, but I'm also fully aware of its limitations.

The idea that EVs will work for everyone, or that they will save the planet, as pushed by the last administration, is bat guano crazy.

7 Reply
- See 6 previous
- Txclyde1 on Feb 25, 2026
  
  Yes it is .
  
  1
- Jalop1991 on Feb 25, 2026
  
  Always was. And yet, automakers jumped into the deep end of the bat guano with both feet. Does that tell you anything?
  Except for Toyota. Does THAT tell you anything?
  
  3
- Bd2 on Feb 25, 2026
  
  The idea that the entire public needs to subsidize vehicles purchased by the wealthier section of society is indeed quite poor.
  
  1
- Jeff S on Feb 25, 2026
  
  You do realize Toyota has EVs as well they just go into EVs with the same force that other manufacturers have.
  
  Like
- Bd2 on Feb 26, 2026
  
  ^^ ANAL
  Maybe not done in the best way, but the whole idea behind behind the BEV credits was to support BEV manufacturing and more importantly, the build out of a supply chain here in the US before China's lead becomes too much to overcome.
  And I'm sure ANAL thinks subsidizing (by a far greater amount) behemoth vehicles by wealthy business owners is an even worse idea.
  
  Like
- 28-Cars-Later on Feb 27, 2026
  
  "[Toyota] just go into EVs with the same force that other manufacturers have."
  No they didn't, which is why Toyota isn't writing down multiple billions in losses like Ford and GM.
  
  Like
- E**169275769 on Mar 08, 2026
  
  Well said and I agree .
  
  Like
Stellantis Guy on Feb 25, 2026

Too bad those EV customers won't have any EVs to choose from, since all EVs are being cancelled in the U.S. market. I read it on TTAC. 🙂

2 Reply
- See 4 previous
- Txclyde1 on Feb 25, 2026
  
  They will have some to choose from but the amount looks like it will get smaller .The vast majority of Americans don’t want them .It seems most of the people that buy them already own one .Not that many new customers and in fact I just read that some former ev owners are going back to gas fueled vehicles after taking a huge bath when they wanted to sell or trade their ev .An ev with 100k on it is worth nothing.I support people buying whatever they want but I do not support what the last administration tried to do which was to force Americans into buying an ev by putting dictatorial epa edicts on emissions and mileage.Americans are also not going to support trillions in taxes to make our power infrastructure more useable for EVs .
  
  2
- Stellantis Guy on Feb 25, 2026
  
  "An ev with 100K on it is worth nothing."
  • Cargurus dot com disagrees.
  
  Like
- Lloyd Bonified on Feb 25, 2026
  
  100k mile EV or 100k mile small Ecoboost/theta2/whatever other undersized engine with a turbo in a too big vehicle you can think of? EV all day and twice on Sunday
  
  1
- Jeff S on Feb 25, 2026
  
  There is a Cybertruck with your name on it.
  
  Like
- E**169275769 on Mar 08, 2026
  
  All aren’t but a very large amount are .Most companies aren’t going to make it .Even Tesla has killed two of their original models .Until EVs hold their value as used cars they will never be the choice of the vast majority .Most new ev buyers now are previous owners, so nothing gained.EVs have real limitations no matter what an ev cultist tells you .
  
  Like

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