Here’s the thing few people, even in the automotive industry, realize about electric vehicles: By and large, the cars aren’t the problem.
They’re faster, cleaner, quieter and generally run better than anything that runs on gasoline. The problem, as always, is keeping them charged up. And the fear of not being able to charge up easily is often what keeps people from going electric.
One of the most important things that car companies can do to beat perceptions around range and charging anxiety is to throw in free home chargers, according to a new study from the marketing research firm Escalent. Their report, called the 2024 Charging Experience DeepDive from EVForward, says that the inclusion of home charging options—yes, including installation—would do a lot more to get consumers to embrace EVs.
“New car buyers, particularly EV owners and EV intenders, would be most comfortable with the manufacturer installing its preferred Level 2 home charger,” the study said. This “removes the stress and burden of choosing and installing a home charger from the consumer completely.”
The study’s authors spoke to more than 1,300 people in the U.S., including more than 100 EV owners, 324 people who intend to buy one, 433 people who are open to the idea and 461 people who say they’re resistant to going electric. In other words, it’s a good cross-section of the current market: a lot of early adopters, a good amount of people who are into EVs and many who say they’re not interested.
While it’s certainly true that modern EVs can’t yet meet everyone’s needs across the board, the latter category of drivers is often resistant due to misconceptions, a lack of experience with these cars or just fears that they won’t be able to charge easily.
That’s a valid concern, and so the Escalent report stressed that automakers need to be more proactive in throwing in home chargers if they want people to get into electric cars.
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The study said that if a car manufacturer threw in a home Level 2 charger, covered the installation costs and required nothing else from the consumer, then the “EV resistant” crowd gets a lot more comfortable with their purchase. After all, about 80% of all EV charging happens at home, and we’ve seen the pitfalls when people rely on public DC fast charging stations as they would gas stations: long lines, problems with connectivity and reliability, inconsistent charging speeds and more.
Historically, however, automakers have been reluctant to reach outside their comfort zones and become infrastructure companies. They’re used to everything that supports cars springing up around them, from gas stations to repair shops to insurance providers and more. It’s why they were happy to add in DC fast charging credits with a new EV purchase and call it a day. (Many also have not wanted to deal with the liability of installing chargers at people’s homes, which could have any number of questionable wiring and safety issues.)
Yet that switch hasn’t happened as quickly as they projected with EVs. Now, the car companies are realizing they need to change tactics a bit. They’re teaming up to fund the Ionna fast-charging network, for example, and now more and more of them are doing what the Escalent study recommends: tossing in the home Level 2 charger, and in some cases covering installation costs.
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Right now, Ford is doing this at least through the end of this month. Hyundai offers it for the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 5 N. Honda and Acura do this as well, or offer DC fast-charging credits as an alternative option. Escalent’s study said this should be standard practice across the board.
“Overwhelmed by the process of choosing and installing a home charger on their own, the study found that 71% of buyers would be more likely to purchase a BEV from a manufacturer that handles all aspects of setting up home charging,” its authors said.
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There’s also the problem of education, something we cover here often. Owning an EV is a different experience than owning a gas car and most people aren’t familiar with the complex terminology involved, nor the very concept of being able to “fuel” at home. “With new car buyers concerned about charge time, there’s more familiarity with fast chargers. Although they’re both fast chargers, buyers are more familiar
with Tesla Superchargers than DC fast chargers,” the study said.
Taking the time to stress to buyers that they can plug in at home, and that the process to do so will be made as seamless as possible for them, will yield increased EV sales. Many buyers also don’t understand how and when to use standard Level 1 wall charging, suggesting that dealers too need to step up in terms of telling people what to expect.
Photo by: InsideEVs
Above all, this study suggests some common-sense tactics not every automaker or car dealer has embraced yet: educate the buyer, and make it cheap and easy for them to “fuel” at home.
“Setting up home charging could be a selling point for manufacturers,” the study said. “Offering a service that sets up home charging likely won’t be the sole deciding factor in a buyer’s BEV purchase decision, but could sway their decision when considering the pros across several brands.”
Will more automakers step up and do what Hyundai, Ford and Honda are doing? Clearly, it’d be in their best interest to try, especially as the EV market continues to heat up.
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