Mobile app features that are most important to owners of electric vehicles have the lowest satisfaction rate, according to J.D. Power.
Based on its 2023 U.S. OEM EV App Report, which was released on May 30, the use of mobile apps from automotive manufacturers for EVs has increased — particularly to view the active charging status of the vehicle and to check range information. But the user experience for these specific features, and others, may need to be improved.
“Even though EV app usage has increased over time, the app features EV owners say are most important to them are among those that have the lowest satisfaction,” said Jason Norton, Senior Manager of Global Automotive Consulting at J.D. Power, in a statement.
He added that OEMs “need to focus on improving the performance of the areas that matter most to EV owners in order to maximize their impact and elevate the user experience.”
What’s important to EV owners?
According to J.D. Power, speed and ease of navigation are the two most important elements, which have received (among other app usage elements) some of the lowest scores overall. In comparison, an app’s visual appeal ranks among the top in satisfaction but is the least important to EV owners.
The ability to connect to their app at all times is also important. Based on the report, 37 per cent of EV owners said they had connection-related issues with their app in the past 30 days. This is up from 32 per cent a year earlier. “This may suggest that increasing app usage is straining some manufacturers’ app network capacity,” said J.D. Power.
The company also notes that apps can have an impact on the type of vehicle/purchase decision. For example, 59 per cent of Tesla owners said the availability of a smartphone app had (at least) a moderate effect on their decision to buy a Tesla vehicle. Twenty-one per cent said it had a major effect.
Tesla ranks top among manufacturers’ EV mobile apps, followed by Mercedes me connect and MyHyundai (827).
