As the U.S. electric vehicle market continues to grow, EV drivers expect powerful features from their vehicles, such as fully integrated mobile apps that can unlock their vehicles, plan when to charge and remotely control the air conditioning or heating.
Although EV owners are increasingly using their vehicle brand apps, there’s room improvement, especially when it comes to connectivity and speed, according to the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. OEM EV App Report, published May 29.
Non-Tesla EV drivers are shifting gears in favor of their vehicle’s app. Just 17% of non-Tesla EV drivers in 2024 reported using their brand’s app each time they got behind the wheel, increasing by 15 percentage points to 32% this year.
Tesla drivers are much more likely to use their vehicle’s app than other EV drivers, with the report finding 79% of Tesla drivers use the Tesla app each time they drive. That’s up from 69% last year. App performance varies across brands, which affects whether drivers choose to rely on their apps. Tesla’s high proportion of app usage makes sense, as the J.D. Power report ranked Tesla as the highest performing EV mobile app overall. Among premium EV brands, the Mercedes Benz app ranked second, and the MyBMW app ranked third. MyHyundai with Bluelink was the highest rated mass-market brand app, followed by Kia Access and MINI.
“Top-performing apps deliver fast, consistent remote controls and have desired features,” Violet Allmandinger, mobile apps lead at J.D. Power, said in a statement. “However, most other apps are still closing that gap.”
EV owners surveyed for the report flagged connectivity and app speed as major areas where apps could improve. In fact, app speed was the best predictor of customer satisfaction, J.D. Power said. The majority of EV drivers (70%) also reported interest in app features such as in-app charge payment and trip planning, but many non-Tesla EV drivers had never used such tools, suggesting that they were either unaware of what their apps could do or that their apps had limited features. Indeed, more than half (54%) of non-Tesla EV drivers said they had never tried to pay for a charging session through their vehicle’s app.
In order to compile the report, J.D. Power surveyed 1,966 EV owners in the U.S. about their EV app usage, the app features they desired and app performance. J.D. Power also assessed apps from 28 EV brands in the United States (as well as 10 in China and 8 in Europe) based on app functionality, features, usability and other indicators of product performance and customer satisfaction.
