It can be hard to convince those who hate the virtues of electric cars unless these people are Californian or these people were already on board with the initial concept. But according to a new study, once people make the leap, it tends to hold up.
JD Power dit it was the first time he did the study, which he calls the Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study, and which I will therefore refer to as “the study”. The study asked electric car owners several questions related to their satisfaction with their electric vehicles. Not surprisingly, the owners said that autonomy was the most important thing for them, along with the good or bad that is the charging network, and that they meant cost savings during the life of the vehicle compared to a car gasoline.
What’s more interesting is that brand loyalty doesn’t seem very important in the world of electric vehicles, at least among people who weren’t so happy with the electric vehicles they ended up with. Most of these people too they say they will buy another EV.
The study finds that 95% of electric vehicle owners with an overall ownership satisfaction of more than 900 points say they will purchase another electric vehicle. About two-thirds (64%) of these owners say they will “definitely” buy the same brand again. However, the likelihood of repurchasing the same brand decreases as satisfaction decreases. Among owners whose satisfaction is between 600 and 750 points, 77% indicate that they will “definitely” purchase another electric vehicle, although their probability of repurchasing the same brand is only 25%.
The punctuation scores in this paragraph refer to people’s responses, not the index score for specific models, but you can probably guess who got the highest score in the aggregate. I invite you to examine the following bar graphs the study:
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The story seems, then, that many owners of Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt aren’t necessarily affected by their blades or bolts, but that hasn’t definitively ruined their electric cars either. The worst news is probably for Audi and Jaguar, who went straight to Tesla and both ended up behind. Meanwhile, most Tesla owners seem perfectly happy with their decision, with a warning:
Although driving enjoyment varies significantly by segment (892 for premium BEV and 758 for mass market BEV), only the mass market segment outperforms quality and reliability. Quality and reliability are the most important factor in the experience of owning premium electric vehicles. It is noteworthy that while Tesla is seen to have low quality, Tesla owners are generally more satisfied, indicating that they are willing to overlook quality issues.
Quality problems i have been chasing Tesla for years, and if that hasn’t sunk them right now, it probably never will. And the idea that legacy carmakers can beat Tesla if they do simply trying becomes increasingly dubious.