The J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study lays out a clear roadmap to help dealers move the EVs on their lots – and confidently tackle those tricky regulatory headwinds and shifting incentives.

“The elimination of EV tax incentives and public charging funding has the potential to affect two critical barriers to EV adoption: public charging availability and vehicle prices,” Brent Gruber, executive director of the EV practice at J.D. Power says, underscoring the problem. “This temporary slowdown in market share growth for EVs creates a unique challenge for the industry as manufacturers forge ahead with new-vehicle introductions. The EV market will be faced with expanded product offerings and flat share, creating increased competition.”

The good news: J.D. Power data shows nearly all current EV owners plan to stick with the technology. Dealers who emphasize the benefits of EVs and resolve information gaps can become partners with a growing group of EV buyers. And though the market is not booming, it is showing signs of growth.

In 2024, battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) captured 9.1% of the market – a modest rise from 8.4% in 2023 – driven largely by an influx of mass-market models. J.D. Power analysts predict ending EV tax credits and reducing public charging infrastructure funding could stall further growth.

That’s where the guidelines for dealers come into play. After analyzing survey findings, J.D. Power offers the following ideas for dealers to grow loyalty and sales.

Dealer Education: A Key Differentiator

A central finding of the study is the opportunity for improved customer education. Although 69% of first-time BEV buyers received some instruction during the purchase process, the scope of information provided varied dramatically.

Education on vehicle-specific features reached nearly half of buyers, yet only 12% received guidance on the total cost of EV ownership.

“Dealer and manufacturer representatives play the crucial role of front-line educators,” says J.D. Power’s Gruber. Dealers who want to build their market share should design enhanced training programs; one that works well, dealers note, is inviting buyers back to the store for a review of their vehicle’s features. That relieves driver frustration and shortens the learning curve.

Mass-market BEV quality continues to outperform premium BEVs: Owners of mass-market BEVs once again experience fewer problems than do owners of premium BEVs, albeit the gap has narrowed this year. Among the top 10 BEV models with the fewest reported problems in the study, seven are in the mass-market segment. “In both segments, the two highest-ranked models in the index rankings are also the best-performing models in total quality,” Gruber says. “This illustrates the important link between vehicle quality and overall ownership satisfaction.”

Premium plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) may be a viable alternative to BEVs: Previous iterations of this study have found that PHEV owners were much less satisfied than BEV owners. However, new for this year is the addition of the premium PHEV segment. Satisfaction among owners in this segment is 741, which is higher than mass-market BEVs (725) and mass-market PHEVs (632) and only 15 index points lower than satisfaction among owners of premium BEVs. For customers who are hesitant to make the leap to a full EV, a premium PHEV may be a satisfactory alternative.  

Although premium BEV owners remain more satisfied with public charging availability (551 on the satisfaction index), mass-market owners have seen an impressive 86-point year-over-year improvement, signaling progress as charging networks expand.

Loyalty in the EV Market

Perhaps most notably for auto dealers, the study found that 94% of BEV owners are likely to purchase another electric vehicle as their next vehicle, with only 12% considering a return to vehicles with internal-combustion engines. That presents an opportunity for dealers to build lasting relationships with a loyal and growing customer base if they provide the educational experience noted above.