Top-Rated Charge Point Operators in North America: 2024 Edition

“Unsurprisingly, the biggest success factor is a highly reliable deployment of ports easily activated by drivers,” says Simon Ouellette. The analysis reveals that networks with the fewest breakdowns achieve the best results. What differentiates the best networks in this analysis is their ability to minimize the risk of a driver leaving a charging location without adding the energy they hoped to get. A successful session, even if it may not have been a first time plug-in success at full rated power, has less impact on a driver’s experience score than a complete failure.

Multiple charging stations at a given location correlate with a better success rate for a charging site. As locations have more and more charging ports, drivers experience a reduced chance of encountering congestion. Additionally, the failure of one or multiple ports on-site does not guarantee the success or failure of the entire charging location. “Locations with only a single port, while essential, often score lower than locations with many charging ports,” he adds.

All top-rated networks have at least one of the previously mentioned factors, with one network standing out for excelling in both easily activated & reliable stations and a high percentage of sites with a lot of charging port redundancy. “We can't overlook Tesla's good performance in offering a charging experience that meets the expectations of EV drivers,” says Simon Ouellette. “The results confirm our expectations: this network scores highly in Canada and the U.S.”

Based on our analysis, we have compiled a list of the top-performing CPOs for the first time. A minimum comment threshold per country was set to ensure a robust sample. We also listed the networks alphabetically, not in order of performance. “The goal is to highlight excellence rather than make direct comparisons between networks,” says Simon Ouellette.

Here are the results for 2024:

• BC Hydro EV

• ChargeLab

• Circuit Électrique

• Electrify America / Canada

• Flo / eCharge

• Tesla

Among the networks that achieved superior results, some are taking initiatives to improve users' charging experience.

In their analysis, our experts highlighted BC Hydro's particular contribution. On top of having a dedicated team to monitor site uptime and quickly dispatch a crew to resolve any reported issues, BC Hydro diligently uses the EV Driver Engagement platform to proactively display announcement updates to users on the status of its charging locations in the ChargeHub app. They also systematically provide pictures and detailed info to drivers for last mile navigation. This way, users always know what to expect in advance and can plan their itinerary accordingly.

This is a highly effective way of managing user expectations by leveraging our application's community aspect. “Whatever strategy we employ to ensure an enjoyable experience, communication and transparency remain crucial to achieving this goal,” concludes Simon Ouellette.