Electric cars bring more joy to owners than gasoline-powered ones [study]

Electric vehicles provide buyers with more satisfaction in operation compared to gasoline-powered models, including hybrids, according to a 2026 APEAL study conducted by JD Power in the United States. The performance of electric vehicles has been improving steadily over the past three years, even though they are no longer considered gadgets for advanced consumers and are now reaching people with no experience in BEVs who expect a vehicle to simply transport them from point A to point B. The biggest advantage of electric vehicles over gasoline-powered ones is their powertrain.

Electric vehicles are better than gasoline models. That’s a surprise

The advantage of BEVs over traditional models in terms of driving performance is as much as 109 points on a 1,000-point scale. The study is conducted three months (exactly 90 days) after purchase, at a time when the owner has already become somewhat accustomed to the car’s ability to accelerate swiftly out of traffic lights. On the other hand, regardless of propulsion type, new premium models perform worse than older ones, while satisfaction levels increase in the mass-market segment. The gap between “premium” and mass-market cars is only 29 points. New owners are overwhelmed by the complexity of configuring new vehicles, the quality of multimedia systems, and built-in technologies (source).

Electric vehicles outperform gasoline-powered ones “in almost every category” of the study, which identified several dozen categories based on a survey covering 37 vehicle features. They are most favored by buyers in terms of: engine configuration and start-up, getting in and out of the vehicle, driving experience, ride comfort, multimedia system performance [compare with previous paragraph – editor’s note], interior quality and layout, and fuel efficiency. In the 2026 model year, electric vehicles saw the highest year-over-year increase, by 22 points.

The average rating for all electric vehicles on a 1000-point scale is 910, while the average rating for gasoline vehicles (including hybrids) was 850. JD Power also noted that drivers of electric cars rarely return to gasoline models and usually plan to buy an electric vehicle as their next car. This aligns with results from other studies, as satisfaction levels with BEVs typically range from 70 to 90 percent, with only a relatively small group of respondents expressing a desire to return to traditional propulsion systems.

The brand that achieved the highest scores in the premium segment, regardless of propulsion type, was Porsche. In the popular car category, Mini came out on top.

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