The best brands of electric vehicles, hybrids and charging networks

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In the past decade, electric vehicles and hybrids have become mainstream. According to , the use of EVs on US roads has increased from 1.3 million in 2021 to 3.3 million at the end of 2023.

That’s a drop compared to the country’s 288.5 million internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, but electric and hybrid vehicles have something gasoline vehicles don’t: sales growth. Taking on the future changes in government don’t derail things, new electric vehicle purchases are likely to continue to grow. predicts steady growth in electric vehicle sales in the US through 2028.

That makes 2024 a perfect time to ask you, our audience, about your favorite EVs and hybrids. Our results include ratings for 1,126 vehicles, 48% of which are labeled as trucks or SUVs. Across all vehicle types, fully electric vehicles (48%) and standard hybrids (37%) dominate our results. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) just aren’t as popular. Based on Edmunds sales data, standard hybrids outsell PHEVs by about seven times.

We also have information about your preferred charging options and apps that help you find charging networks around the country. Read on to see which brands you should take for a test drive.

The best electric and hybrid car brands for 2024

The New York Times he called it a month ago in his article.” PCMag readers agree.

dominates our plug-in and hybrid electric vehicle chart thanks to a score of 9.4 out of 10 for overall satisfaction. It doesn’t top every subcategory in this poll, but overall satisfaction is the rating we consider first, especially considering it’s a tight race this year. The lowest score among car manufacturers on this satisfaction chart is an impressive 8.8. It seems everyone likes electrified vehicles, regardless of brand. BMW just so happens to dominate this list.

(Note: Click the down, left, and right arrows on our interactive charts to view different elements of our survey results.)

Lexus, in second place, excels in several subcategories (reliability in particular, but also service and repairs and driver assistance) and is the brand most likely to earn a recommendation from those looking for a new vehicle. Another standout is Chevrolet, which has the best scores for value and ease of use.

Surprisingly, Tesla is in eighth place, but it gets high marks for all the innovations the company has brought to electric vehicle charging. Drivers especially like the charger that comes with the car and Tesla’s public charging options (more on that below). We’re also giving a special award to GPS navigation, a feature no one should leave home without.

Again, even the lowest-scoring carmaker in our results (Kia in the chart above) scores well overall.

What happens when we break down vehicles by type: EV vs. hybrids?

In terms of electric vehicles alone, the s scores rival the BMW in the chart above. Ford has the added bonus of winning in multiple subcategories. This includes ease of use, service and repair, driver assistance and overall connectivity. Ford is also the electric vehicle brand most likely to be recommended.

Other EV standouts include Chevy, which again has the edge in cost and value and gets the reliability win here (Lexus isn’t in the EV results). Tesla remains at the top for GPS as well as charging-related subcategories. Tesla and Ford tie for best driving field. The Kia is again on the bottom rung, but still scores solidly for overall satisfaction.

Not surprisingly, knowing how well they sell, we didn’t get enough response to include PHEVs, except for one brand: Toyota. As such, we are not awarding a PHEV this year as there is no competition.

That brings us to standard hybrids: vehicles that are powered mostly by ICE with electric assist, or electric only up to a certain speed. Most have a battery charged by regenerative braking and are usually not plugged in.

This is a close connection between two brands, both owned by Toyota Motor Corporation. and hybrids both score the same for overall satisfaction and for likelihood to recommend, our keystones for selecting an award winner. They also have an equal share of top ratings for subcategories. This one is too close to call, so they both win the Readers’ Choice Award for hybrids.

Lexus has incredibly high ratings for reliability, service and repair. The Toyota isn’t far behind, plus it scores highly for cost, range (on par with the Honda) and working with technologies like CarPlay and Android Auto.

When shopping for a hybrid, buying a Lexus or Toyota should be your first thought.

For our in-depth reviews, read on.

The best brands of home chargers and charging networks for 2024

When you buy an electric vehicle (or PHEV), you usually get a charger that plugs into a standard 120V AC outlet. Serious EV owners will opt to install a complete home charging system that runs on 240V home electricity. This is the difference between having Level 1 (plug) and Level 2. It’s also the difference between days of charging for a full EV versus just a few hours.

In our survey, only three Tier 2 charging systems had enough responses to make the cut: ChargePoint, Enel X (which makes JuiceBox-branded chargers), and Tesla. Based on the range of overall satisfaction scores, readers have very different opinions about these systems than they do about their electric vehicles.

adze it crushes it here with high satisfaction ratings and top scores in most subcategories. It ties ChargePoint for second in setup and installation, reliability and recommendation. However, ChargePoint leads the pack for ease of use.

Enel X’s scores are all down, probably because of this ceased US operations without warning in October.

The other way people charge EVs and PHEVs is at public charging stations. There are several networks of charging stations in the US, and the largest is ChargePoint, with 38,500 locations. Tesla has a Supercharger network of 6,750 locations, while Volkswagen subsidiary ElectrifyAmerica has about 950. They offer Level 3 charging, so a start-up generally only takes minutes, not hours. There are also thousands of non-network charging stations, according to .

Those top three networks were the only names that earned enough survey responses to make our list of winners. And everywhere, winning in every measure is adze Supercharger. It is mostly used by Tesla owners, but the company now has if vehicle owners have an adapter to fit the plug. However, most of the survey responses for the Supercharger network came from respondents who also rated Tesla vehicles, so it’s no wonder they give it high marks.

More is not always better. Despite having a larger network of charging stations, ChargePoint is a point and a half behind Tesla for overall satisfaction. There are similar bumps on most scores. The network simply does not excite users. The scores are even worse for the ElectrifyAmerica offering.

The best network location and route planner apps for 2024

EV and PHEV owners often use charging network locator apps to find nearby charging locations, especially when planning longer trips. In some cases, you can run them on the car.

The best choice for routing your way to a charger is via adze app—again, through feedback provided by Tesla drivers. However, it certainly cannot be denied that Tesla’s ratings are the highest. It is definitely worthy of the Readers’ Choice Award. The Tesla app does more than find chargers—it’s also a primary diagnostic tool for the vehicle.

We’re also giving away a Readers’ Choice Award for second place PlugSharebecause it’s the most important vehicle-independent app on our list and can be used by anyone, not just Tesla owners. This app (which launched in 2009 and is now owned by EVgo charging network) was one of the first to track down as many charging station options as possible in the US. It doesn’t hurt that the data is partially crowdsourced.

PlugShare does more than just help users find charging stations. It also facilitates payments at the charger. If your EV can support a browser, the PlugShare website mimics all the mobile functions on your dashboard screen.

Readers are far less enthusiastic or even used, even if it’s a PCMag Editors’ Choice.

For more, also read .

The PCMag Readers’ Choice poll for electric vehicles ran from October 4 to December 9, 2024. For more information on how we conduct polls, read .
Ben Gottesman contributed to this article.