J.D. Power Reports EV Satisfaction, Nissan & Polestar Trail Pack

We posted yesterday about the J.D. Power survey which ranked electric vehicles based on the ownership experience. While that post detailed vehicles which sat atop the podium, we’ll now flip the script and write about models which brought up the rear.

As a quick refresher, J.D. Power calls this survey the Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) study, focused on first-time EV owners and splitting the group into premium and mainstream brands. There were a total of ten factors in the survey, ranging from typical items like styling and infotainment to EV-specific concerns such as the state of public charging. 

It’ll not go unnoticed that the latter is beyond the control of most car manufacturers, save for efforts like Tesla’s own Supercharger network. Giving a vehicle bad grades based on public infrastructure is like tanking the dealer survey for yer new ICE car because the gas station attendant was rude or the pumps weren’t working. Still, public charging is a piece of the EV ownership puzzle and needs to be considered before making the leap.

With a maximum of 1000 points available in the study, all five EVs which qualified for consideration in the premium category were close enough in score that one could throw a blanket over the lot of them. Still, someone has to come last. The new Polestar 2 earned a satisfaction score of 724 this year, not all that far off the winning Rivian R1T at 794 points. The other three cars were Tesla Model 3 (759pts), Tesla Model Y (754pts), and the Audi e-tron (735pts).

There were more entrants in the mainstream category, which predictably led to a broader spread of numbers. The Nissan Leaf mustered a 698 score, nearly 100 points adrift of the winning Mini Cooper Electric. Still, with second-place Kia EV6 getting 762 points and Ford Mach-E earning 742 points, it’s not like the Leaf fumbled too badly. Other notables in the mainstream segment were Hyundai Ioniq5 (738pts) and Ford F-150 Lightning (723pts).

In addition to carping about the state of public charging, respondents generally complained about infotainment headaches, something which plagues not just EV cars but ICE vehicles as well. It’s interesting that a poorly designed or complicated UX can affect a rig’s score, even if it is weighted differently than mechanical issues. I guess since the infotainment gubbins pretty much dictate how one interacts with a car these days, a bad experience can have a huge effect on a person’s satisfaction with their shiny new vehicle.

As mentioned in the other post, the 2023 EVX study included 10 factors ranging from vehicle quality to charging. Survey respondents for the study encompassed just over seven thousand owners of 2022/2023 model-year BEVs and PHEVs. The study was done between August and December last year.

[Image: Nissan]

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.