- A new J.D. Power study ranks Tesla as having the best electric vehicle app, despite an increase in connectivity issues reported by owners.
- Hyundai leads the mainstream brand rankings with the highest-rated app, followed by Kia and Ford.
- The study highlights the growing importance of EV apps for managing charging, range, and other vehicle features.
Apps can come in handy if you want to remotely start or unlock your vehicle, but they’re not exactly make or break. However, that changes when it comes to electric vehicles as apps enable you to remotely check on charging status and range as well as remotely set and adjust charging schedules.
This makes having a good app vital to the ownership experience, but a new study suggest automakers have their work cut out for themselves as 38% of users reported connectivity issues.
More: Tesla Owner Reportedly Unlocked And Drove Away In Wrong Model 3 Using Smartphone App
While non-Tesla owners had the most problems, J.D. Power noted “35% of Tesla owners say they experienced a connection-related problem – up from 30% in 2023 and 20% in 2022.” The firm said this “problematic trend may suggest that increasing app usage is straining Tesla’s app network capacity.”
Regardless, Tesla had the best EV app among premium automakers as they received a score of 847 out of 1,000. Mercedes wasn’t far behind at 843, while BMW trailed at 834. On the mainstream side of the equation, Hyundai came out on top with a score of 835. They were followed by Kia (829) and Ford (810).
Conversely, the worst-rated apps, according to consumers surveyed by J.D. Power, belonged to Subaru (677), Vinfast, and VW (both 680) among mainstream brands, and Polestar (626) and Jaguar (671) among premium brands.
J.D. Power didn’t elaborate much on the rankings, but said “Insights are derived from surveying EV owners and an assessment of the most relevant EV mobile apps. Results are based on a standardized assessment approach relying on more than 350 best practices for vehicle apps that include more than 70 EV-specific attributes.”
While that’s vague, the firm said 90% of EV owners use the app for their vehicle. That’s up 2% from last year and up 9% from 2022.
In a statement, J.D. Power’s director of benchmark consulting, Jason Norton, said “The overall experience and performance of electric vehicle mobile apps has improved year over year, as manufacturers continue to identify areas of opportunity, including feature contenting, usability and overall connectivity. However, a continued focus on the specific needs of EV owners is needed to further improve the user experience and trust.”
