PlugShare, an electric vehicle (EV) driver app maker and research firm, announced a multi-year collaboration with J.D. Power to co-develop research for the U.S. EV marketplace.
Under the agreement, the firms will collaborate on a series of EV-oriented reports, with initial topics including the total ownership experience, charging at home, and charging in public. The alliance will give rise to the first-ever J.D. Power Benchmark Awards within the EV category, including for the performance of EV charging networks.
EV driver insights will be gathered by PlugShare's PlugInsights panel of more than 63,000 EV drivers and the PlugShare mobile app, a popular community for EV drivers, with more one million registered users. PlugShare is also collaborating with J.D. Power on research design and analysis.
The first reports from the collaboration are expected in late 2020/early 2021 and will be sold through J.D. Power. PlugShare will continue to provide custom research and published reports to clients outside the J.D. Power alliance, sold through PlugShare.
"We see 2021 as a true breakout year for EVs in the United States," said Norman Hajjar, PlugShare's chief strategy officer. "It's never been more important to amplify the voice of EV drivers to industry executives than it is right now, and this collaboration with J.D. Power will do exactly that."
"J.D. Power has become the customer experience standard in many areas of the automotive industry. Our collaboration with PlugShare will create new standards that will help companies in the EV market understand their competitive performance and provide a better experience to owners. At the same time, it will help consumers make more-informed choices about EVs and related services," said Dave Sargent, vice president, automotive quality at J.D. Power.
