Home Charging Promises Are Coming Due at the Service Counter
Plenty of service departments figure home charging is the owner's business once the car leaves the lot. New Census Bureau data released October 29 counts about 7.3 million households with at least one electric vehicle, and every one of those garages can send a charging question back to the store.
How Many Owners Are Charging at Home Now?
The 2025 American Community Survey asked about electric vehicles for the first time, and it found 5.5% of households had one. That count covers both the BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) and the PHEV (Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle). Renter households trailed at 3.6%, so chances are most of these cars charge at a home the owner owns.
What happens at that house shapes the next service visit. A Level 1 cord in a 120-volt outlet adds about 5 miles of range per hour of charging, according to the Department of Energy, while Level 2 adds about 25 miles. An owner who heard "it charges overnight" at the sale may wake up short of full and decide something is wrong with the car.
That is where fixed ops feels it. How long a car takes to charge at home depends on the outlet, the battery and the daily drive, so there is no single answer to hand over at delivery. When the charging time the owner expected doesn't match what happens in the garage, the promise comes due in the lane, often as a repair order with nothing to repair. Expect that write-up to cost bay time and some of the owner's confidence in the store.
Why Does the Charger at Home Move the Score?
J.D. Power's 2026 Home Charging Study shows how much the equipment matters. Owners using Level 1 portable chargers rated their satisfaction at 569, while owners of permanently mounted Level 2 chargers rated theirs at 733. Odds are the owner who calls the service desk about slow charging is the one using the household cord.
One of the trucks headed for the lane carries a very large battery. InsideEVs reports the Ram REV pickup is expected to go into production in the second half of 2026 as a 2027 model, with a 92-kilowatt-hour battery. It is an E-REV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle), so electric motors turn the wheels and the gas engine only makes electricity for them. Owners can plug it in at home for daily driving.
The Department of Energy points drivers with longer commutes, or batteries large enough to need more than a night to fill, toward Level 2. Chances are some E-REV owners will try the household cord first, check the gauge in the morning and bring the question to service.
In the Service Lane This Week
Listen for an owner who says the car "never gets to full at home." That usually points to a household outlet and a charging time expectation that came from the sale, and it tells the advisor the conversation is about charging before it turns into a repair order.
Conclusion
More extended-range models are on the way, with InsideEVs listing E-REVs from Scout and Hyundai planned for 2027. What would change the picture is how many of those owners go home with a Level 2 plan, and the next round of Census survey data will likely show whether EV households keep growing.
Charging time is one of the first promises an owner tests at home, and when it falls short the visit lands on Service. Gateway EV Advisor helps stores get ahead of that visit through interactive advisory sessions on a regular cadence, so Sales and Service give customers the same plain answer about charging at home and stay current as new models and bigger batteries arrive.
Gateway EV Advisor works to elevate dealership Sales and Service teams' EV knowledge, to communicate professionally with customers to increase EV sales and protect CSI. See how at gatewayevadvisor.com/ev-training-for-dealerships.
Sources
- U.S. Census Bureau, New Survey Question Shows 5.5% of U.S. Households Had Electric Vehicles (October 2026) - census.gov
- U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (undated live page) - afdc.energy.gov
- U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data Center, Charging Electric Vehicles at Home (undated live page) - afdc.energy.gov
- CBT News, EV home charging satisfaction declines as costs rise, JD Power study (March 2026) - cbtnews.com
- J.D. Power, EV Home Charging Costs Rise and Satisfaction Falls, but Few EV Owners Take Advantage of Scheduled Charging or Smart Charging Programs (March 2026) - businesswire.com
- InsideEVs, A New Kind Of Hybrid Is Coming. See The 10 Extended-Range EVs Hitting America Soon (September 2026) - insideevs.com