EV charging network plagued with reliability problems



(February 13, 2023) The reliability of the electric vehicle charging network is getting worse with at least 1 in 5 charging attempts by drivers failing last year. The reliability of the electric vehicle charging network is getting worse with at least 1 in 5 charging attempts by drivers failing last year. The number of failed charging attempts climbed steadily from 15 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 20 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and rose to more than 21 percent by the third quarter, according to a J.D. Power study released last week.

Widespread problems are occurring as EV adoption grows at twice the rate of charger installation and the industry and government plan to invest billions of dollars into charging infrastructure. Many charging stations are aging, lack routine maintenance and face software hiccups.

Satisfaction with Level 2 chargers and Level 3 chargers hit its lowest point in the third quarter since J.D. Power began its EV public charging study in 2021. A Level 2 charger powers an EV in five to six hours. Level 2 chargers are often installed at home, work or public shopping centers, where vehicles are parked for a significant amount of time. Level 3 chargers require a much larger grid connection and take 15 to 20 minutes to refill most of an EV's charge.

"We can't add new chargers and let all those old ones fall into a state of disrepair," said Brent Gruber, executive director of global automotive at J.D. Power. "We have to manage the maintenance of those as well because that's the only way we're going to meet the consumer demand."

Charger outage rates varied broadly by operator, Gruber said. One had almost no charger downtime – just 3 percent. Drivers failed to charge at nearly 2 in 5 visits, or 39 percent, at the most problematic last year.

J.D. Power declined to make public which networks had the best and worst reliability records. Its study included more than 26,500 charging attempts at Level 2 and Level 3 chargers in all 50 states.
The reasons for failed charging sessions range from software glitches to payment processing errors to vandalism.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents who were unable to charge their vehicle last year said they couldn't charge because the charger was out of service.  Companies are failing to make repairs quickly, said Ben Shapiro, a manager at RMI, a clean energy nonprofit.

Tesla's Supercharger network tends to have better charger uptime than peers. Fewer Tesla drivers face charger outages and, if a charger is down, the driver typically finds a working charger at the same location, Gruber said.

Sources: Automotive News, J.D. Power & Associates