If you’re already in an electric car, you’re likely to stay: report

It can be difficult to convince haters of the virtues of electric cars, unless these people are Californians, or those people have already bought into the concept to begin with. But according to a new study, once people take the plunge, they tend to stick around.

JD Power said this was the first time he had done the study, which he called the Electric Vehicle Experience Property (EVX) study, and so I’ll call “the study.” The study asked electric car owners a number of questions related to their level of satisfaction with their electric vehicles. Unsurprisingly, owners said range was the most important thing to them, along with the quality or poor quality of the charging network and the cost savings over the life of the vehicle compared to a regular car. gasoline.

More interestingly, brand loyalty doesn’t seem like a big thing in the EV world, at least among people who weren’t as happy with the EVs they ended up with. Most of these people also say they will buy another electric vehicle.

The study finds that 95% of EV owners with overall ownership satisfaction over 900 points report purchasing another EV. Almost two-thirds (64%) of these owners say they will “definitely” repurchase the same brand. However, the likelihood of repurchasing the same brand decreases as satisfaction decreases. Among owners with satisfaction ratings between 600 and 750 points, 77% say they will “definitely buy” another electric vehicle, although their likelihood of repurchasing the same brand is only 25%.

The point scores in this paragraph refer to the responses of individuals, not the index score for specific models, but you can probably guess who scored the highest in the aggregate. I invite you to examine the following bar charts of study:

So the story seems to be that many Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt owners aren’t necessarily in love with their Leafs or Bolts, but it hasn’t ruined electric cars for them for good, either. The worst news is probably Audi and Jaguar, which went straight to Tesla and both finished behind. Most Tesla owners, on the other hand, seem perfectly happy with their decision, with one caveat:

While driving pleasure varies considerably by segment (892 for the premium BEV and 758 for the mainstream BEV), it is only in the mass market segment that the pleasure of driving outweighs the quality. and reliability. Quality and reliability are the most important factors in the experience of owning a premium electric vehicle. It’s worth noting that although Tesla is rated as low quality, Tesla owners are generally more satisfied, indicating their willingness to overlook quality issues.

Quality issues have pursued Tesla for years, and if it hasn’t sunk them by now, it probably never will. And the idea that mainstream automakers can beat Tesla if they simply to try becomes more and more doubtful.