The electric vehicle charging experience could be better in the U.S., as a major new study lays out the infrastructure’s biggest pain points, including failure to report broken stalls, inaccurate station status information, aging equipment and some habitually being unreliable. Internet provider (unfortunately not named in the study).
The study was conducted by ChargerHelp, a company that provides electric vehicle charger operation and maintenance solutions. The company’s findings were also reviewed and confirmed by Professor Jill Tarr, director of the Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California, Davis. ChargerHelp used four years of data from the 20,000 chargers it monitors to compare the self-reported uptime of connected charging stations with the actual uptime found by EV drivers in the field.
The study concluded that electric vehicle chargers can fail in a number of ways. These included damaged retractor systems used to protect cables from damage to vehicle tires, damaged screens and inoperable payment systems. There was also widespread damage to the cabinets and of course damaged cables and connectors.
ChargerHelp calculated that the actual uptime of all chargers recorded was only 73.7%, while the self-reported uptime of EV network providers was 84.6%.
The study found that 26% of all analyzed charging stations were not completely consistent with the charger’s perceived status displayed in the online software. This means that some charging networks have exaggerated the number of charging stations they have online, which undermines EV owners’ confidence in charging infrastructure. This is especially problematic when one is in desperate need of a charge and ends up at a station that the app claims is online but actually isn’t.
The study lists various scenarios in which EV drivers are unable to successfully connect to a charger, including “ghost” charging station scenarios where a lag occurs in the app but is either not there or is corrupted. The study also describes “zombie stations” that exist and work but don’t appear in the app so drivers don’t go to them. “Chaotic occupancy” is when the app tells drivers that certain stalls are available, but in fact they are not. The “dead end” looks tempting until you plug it in and realize it doesn’t work. ChargerHelp claims reliable software interoperability and network data sharing can help solve these problems.
There are also surprising differences in charger downtime depending on location. For example, at the beginning of 2023, New Jersey had the lowest number of downed ports in the country at 4.4%. By comparison, Washington, D.C., saw a nearly 11% drop in ports but 137 ports per 1,000 registered electric vehicles.
