umlaut Names Electrify America & Tesla USA’s Top 2 EV Charging Networks

umlaut has named ElectrifyAmerica and Tesla as its top two US  electric vehicle charging networks. Following behind at quantity three is ChargePoint. In partnership with Charged Electrical Automobiles Journal, umlaut examined charging networks for consumer experiences and found that charging EVs whereas on the go is changing into extra accessible. There’s room for enchancment, nonetheless.

The 2 performed their evaluation for the second consecutive yr and ranked Electrify America the best amongst seven cost level operators. Tesla and Blink have been added to the 2021 evaluation, which included extra charging stations and new states. Within the 2020 evaluation, umlaut and Charged checked out charging infrastructure in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Testers drove 2,100 miles in electrical autos, together with a Tesla Mannequin three and Ford Mustang Mach-E.

Graph courtesy of Charged EVs Journal & umlaut

For the 2021 evaluation, Electrify America scored 702 out of 1,000 factors and was awarded umlaut’s 2021 Finest-in-Take a look at award. Tesla’s Supercharger community scored 649 factors and ChargePoint scored 611. EVgo, Greenlots, Blink, and EV Join have been all ranked as effectively. The 2 classes by which the seven suppliers have been evaluated have been:

• Digital Platform — the digital expertise on a charging supplier’s web site and smartphone. app;
• Charging Location — the bodily interplay on the charging station location.

Though Electrify America ranked the best within the Digital Platform class, Tesla Superchargers scored the best in Charging Places.

Hakan Ekman, CEO of telecommunications and managing director at umlaut US, shared feedback for Electrify America:

“Congratulations to Electrify America for profitable the ‘Finest-in-Take a look at’ award for the second consecutive yr. Despite the fact that we examined in several states this yr, the general outcomes point out that the EV charging infrastructure within the US is bettering by way of accessibility, ease-of-use and fewer charging errors.”

Room For Enchancment

As with all issues in life, there’s room for enchancment with all networks, and I feel this examine is a useful instrument that may assist every of the EV charging suppliers enhance. For beginning and ending instances, Tesla Superchargers have been the quickest. The mixed beginning time of all the opposite cost level operators was a lot slower. Tesla’s velocity was 8.59 seconds.

One other space for enchancment was comfort. Charging stations nonetheless lag behind fuel stations by way of service choices equivalent to meals, restrooms, and climate safety.

Two extra areas of enchancment embody transparency and roaming and interoperability. Some cost level operators don’t inform the client how lengthy the charging course of will take or how a lot it’ll price. As for roaming, every particular person operator’s app exhibits solely its personal out there charging stations and solely permits fee inside its community. Third-party apps for navigation can be found, however none of those supply fee throughout all networks. I feel this might additionally fall into the comfort class — it might be handy to make use of one app as an alternative of all the particular person charging stations’ apps.

Christian Sussbauer, supervisor of eMobility at umlaut, shared his ideas about the way forward for charging infrastructure within the US and the significance of giving clients an expertise that makes e-mobility engaging.

“We see the charging infrastructure within the US increasing — and so does the hole between the main Cost Level Operators and their smaller opponents. In consequence, clients typically aren’t getting the expertise they need to and is essential to creating e-mobility engaging to extra clients.”

Sussbauer additionally touched upon the various discussions about together with Tesla Superchargers within the 2021 evaluation within the report published by Charged.

“We had lots of inside discussions about together with Tesla Superchargers on this yr’s Benchmark as a result of we actually need to create a testing system that may seize the best metrics and supply probably the most helpful data to the EV business. To be sincere, if you happen to requested me earlier than we performed the checks, I feel I’d have predicted that Tesla Superchargers would find yourself main in complete factors as a result of it’s well-known that they do an amazing job in lots of facets of quick charging. And really, our check outcomes present this clearly — Superchargers excel in lots of necessary areas. It’s truly somewhat boring to check Supercharger stations since you simply plug them in and so they reliably work.”

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