Unreliable Public Charging Stations Deter Many Potential Electric Vehicle Buyers
By William Poor, University of Washington – Edited by Sadie Harley, Reviewed by Andrew Zinin – September 2025
Public electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the United States are infamous for being slow, unreliable, or completely inoperable. Broken chargers, failed payment systems, and stranded drivers have given public charging a poor reputation — and that reputation is now shown to have a measurable impact on EV adoption.
Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) designed a large-scale survey to determine how much public charging reliability affects car buyers’ decisions. Their findings, published in Transport Policy, reveal that negative perceptions of public charging dramatically reduce the likelihood of purchasing an EV — and overcoming those perceptions would require major incentives.
Survey Design and Key Findings
The UW research team created a series of hypothetical scenarios to measure how strongly concerns about charging infrastructure influence first-time EV buyers. Participants — roughly 1,500 people who had never owned an EV — were divided into three groups:
-
One group imagined a world where public charging is unreliable and hard to find.
-
Another group imagined a near-perfect charging network.
-
A third group simply shared their existing opinions about public charging.
Participants were then asked to choose between an EV and a comparable gasoline-powered car under varying conditions (EV price, gas price, vehicle range, and charging availability).
The results were striking: participants with negative perceptions of public charging needed major concessions before choosing an EV. On average, they required:
-
A 30% discount on the EV’s price, or
-
366 additional miles of range, or
-
30,000 more public charging stations across the country.
“These were monster results,” said Don MacKenzie, senior author and associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at UW. “This is a warning for the whole industry. No one knew how much charger reliability was influencing buyer decisions — and the size of the effect surprised me.”
Broader Context
The findings come as EV adoption in the U.S. faces uncertainty. While EV sales continue to rise, the phase-out of federal tax credits and ongoing legal battles over state-level gas car bans (like California’s) are creating policy headwinds.
At the same time, the state of public charging infrastructure remains a weak link. Studies have documented persistent reliability problems with public networks, though there are signs of gradual improvement. For drivers who cannot rely exclusively on home charging, the risk of finding a broken or slow charger continues to be a significant barrier.
“Range anxiety is still real,” said Rubina Singh, lead author and UW doctoral student. “EV owners often tolerate charging problems, but new buyers are much more sensitive. If trust erodes, adoption could slow dramatically.”
Interestingly, the study found little difference between participants who had home charging access and those who didn’t, indicating that even those unlikely to depend on public charging are still swayed by its reputation.
Implications for Industry and Policy
The research highlights an urgent need for charging network reliability to be a top priority. MacKenzie warned that a major push to grow EV adoption before reliability issues are addressed could lead to consumer backlash:
“It only takes one bad experience to lose a customer. This is the Achilles’ heel for EVs right now.”
Singh added that further studies are needed to pinpoint the most effective interventions:
“Do chargers need to be online 90% of the time? 95%? 99%? Or should we invest in better payment systems first? The industry needs clear guidance on where to put its dollars for the biggest impact.”
As EVs move from early adopters to the mass market, public charging must not only expand but also deliver a consistently positive experience. Without that reliability, researchers warn, the transition to electric mobility could stall.
