(Yicai Global) Oct. 13 -- Customer satisfaction of new energy vehicle owners is now on a par with that of gasoline-powered autos, The Paper reported yesterday, citing a recent poll.

The New Energy Vehicle Industry User Satisfaction Index reached 80 points out of 100 this year, the same as that of fossil-fuel autos for the first time, according to compiler the China Association for Quality. The Battery Electric Vehicle User Satisfaction Sub-Index rose for the sixth straight year to hit a record 80 points. And the sub-index for plug-in hybrid autos also registered 80 points.

But in terms of service satisfaction, electric cars outperformed traditional autos. The NEV After-sales Service Satisfaction Sub-Index and the NEV Sales Service Satisfaction Sub-Index were both one point higher than gasoline-powered vehicles at 76 and 78 points respectively.

China’s NEVs are being recognized by the majority of users after nearly 10 years of development, said Xia Bin, head of the Customer Satisfaction Index, which polls 34 models made by 17 auto manufacturers. This is due to better research and development capabilities, the long-term accumulation of core technologies and the steady improvement of quality levels.

Satisfaction with the quality and reliability of NEVs has improved significantly, according to the survey which is now in its seventh year. The NEV quality and reliability satisfaction sub-index rose 1.8 point from last year to 79.8 points, 0.1 points lower than that of fuel vehicles.

Breakdowns have dropped noticeably. There were 93 breakdowns for every 100 NEVs this year, eight times less than last year and half that of fuel-powered autos. Pure electric cars performed the best with 86 breakdowns for every 100 vehicles, a reduction of 16 times.

Editor: Kim Taylor