Public electric vehicle (EV) chargers in the United States recorded a notable improvement in reliability in the first quarter of 2025, marking the first significant progress in four years, according to new data from J.D. Power.
The research firm reported that 84% of public charging attempts were successful between January and March, a 4-percentage-point increase from the 2024 annual figure. Over the past several years, failure rates had consistently hovered around 20%, with one in five charging attempts failing as recently as last year.
“When you look at what’s driving those failure events, it’s always been [that] the charger was out of service or it was malfunctioning,” said Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power. “It’s still the number one reason for failure, but it’s gotten better.”
The improvement comes at a time when operators are shifting focus from network expansion to maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure, amid policy uncertainty. In February, the Trump administration suspended the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, which had earmarked $5 billion to support the deployment of DC fast chargers along major highways. Legal challenges from several states are underway in a bid to restore access to the halted federal funding.
Despite the policy setback, some charging providers are seeing higher utilization rates. EVgo, one of the country’s largest operators, reported a usage rate of 24% in early 2025—up from 9% just two years ago—driven by increased EV adoption and efforts to enhance charger performance.
“If a charger is down, it’s costing you money,” said Loren McDonald, chief analyst at EV charging analytics firm Paren. “A lot of the industry started to focus much more on improving and updating and replacing and fixing existing stations that had issues.”
Electrify America, another major charging network, said it recorded 50% more charging sessions year-over-year, supported by continued network expansion and measures like idle fees to improve station availability and reduce congestion.
While charger malfunction remains the primary issue, industry efforts suggest a shift in strategy may be yielding results. A recent Driivz survey of 300 charging companies found that one-third of operators plan to invest in reliability improvements in 2025.