How AI Search Is Recommending Home EV Chargers: Monthly Trends

Executive Summary

ChargePoint Home remains the category's most-recommended home EV charger, holding the leadership position in September 2026 with valid recommendation coverage of 53.3%, down 8.2 points from 61.5% in July. The gap to the second-place brand continues to narrow: Tesla Wall Connector sits at 51.8% in September, putting the two leaders within 1.5 points of each other. ChargePoint Home's decline from baseline exceeds normal month-to-month variation, and its rank-one recommendation rate also fell over the same period, from 31.4% to 21.5%.

Wallbox Pulsar Plus is the category's sharpest decliner, dropping 9.3 points from 23.7% in July to 14.4% in September, a significant decline. Emporia EV Charger also posted a significant drop of 6.2 points from 46.0% to 39.8% over the same period. Grizzl-E widened its lead over Wallbox Pulsar Plus to 24.2 points in September, up from 13.5 points in July. No brand posted a coverage rise beyond normal variation from baseline in September.

The September category state shows three significant decliners versus July baseline and no significant risers. The top of the category is compressing as the leaders lose coverage while mid-tier brands like Grizzl-E hold steady.

Each monthly run begins with 800 prompt-surface observations (514 unique questions in July, 549 in August, 536 in September) across the benchmark's defined AI/search surface universe. All 800 observations mentioned a tracked brand or competitor in each month. In July, 691 were relevant and 109 were irrelevant; in August, 714 were relevant and 86 were irrelevant; in September, 722 were relevant and 78 were irrelevant. The public metrics use the 535 (July), 554 (August), and 568 (September) observations that survive both qualification stages.

Key Findings

Benchmark Context

The report separates the raw collection universe from the qualified analysis set. Brand-level recommendation percentages are calculated within the qualified benchmark set.

These three months share the same platform set, company roster, and query-volume treatment across a comparable instrument version, which is what allows the percentage changes below to be read as measured movement rather than instrumentation noise.

Benchmark-Level Metrics

AI Recommendation Trend

ChargePoint Home holds the leadership position but its lead has compressed substantially. The gap between first and second place narrowed to 1.5 points, forming a tight two-brand cluster at the top of the category.

Recommendation Coverage by Brand

The category's top tier has compressed over the three-month series: ChargePoint Home and Tesla Wall Connector both lost ground from July levels, while Grizzl-E was the only brand above the mid-tier to gain coverage. The movement across the category came from the combination of several significant declines rather than a single dominant shift.

What Changed This Month

ChargePoint Home: Leader Holds, Lead Compresses

ChargePoint Home's recommendation coverage fell 8.2 points from 61.5% in July to 53.3% in September, a decline that exceeds normal month-to-month variation. Its rank-one recommendation rate dropped 9.9 points from 31.4% to 21.5%, meaning fewer AI answers put ChargePoint Home first.

The brand's top-3 rate fell 6.2 points to 48.8%. Its raw mention presence eased 5.0 points to 72.0%, within normal variation. The practical read: ChargePoint Home remains the most-recommended brand, but it is being recommended less often overall and substantially less often as the single top pick, allowing Tesla Wall Connector to close the gap to 1.5 points.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts shifted ChargePoint Home from rank one to a lower position, and which brand is taking the top recommendation when it loses that spot?

Tesla Wall Connector: Presence Declines, Position Steadies

Tesla Wall Connector's recommendation coverage fell 4.5 points from 56.3% in July to 51.8% in September, a change within normal variation. Its raw mention presence dropped 8.8 points, from 84.3% to 75.5%, indicating the brand appeared in fewer AI answers overall, even as its rank-one recommendation rate ticked up 2.1 points to 23.2%.

The brand's valid recommendation count fell from 301 in July to 294 in September. Its rank-one rate rose above ChargePoint Home's in September, with Tesla Wall Connector at 23.2% versus ChargePoint Home at 21.5%, a notable inversion at the top of the category even as overall coverage for both declined.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompt categories drove the drop in mention presence, and which surfaces are now favoring Tesla Wall Connector for rank-one placement over ChargePoint Home?

Wallbox Pulsar Plus: Continued Slide

Wallbox Pulsar Plus posted the largest baseline-to-current decline in the category, dropping 9.3 points from 23.7% in July to 14.4% in September, a significant decline that extends a two-month downward streak. The brand's valid recommendation count fell from 127 in July to 89 in August to 82 in September, a steady month-over-month erosion.

The decline is consistent across metrics: raw mention presence fell 9.9 points to 20.4%, and top-3 rate fell 6.9 points to 6.0%. The brand has dropped from a mid-tier position to 5th place, now trailing Grizzl-E by 24.2 points and only 2.2 points ahead of Autel MaxiCharger, a gap that narrowed from 11.4 points in July.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Did Wallbox Pulsar Plus lose presence across all surfaces or concentrate its decline in specific AI platforms, and what drove the narrowing gap to Autel MaxiCharger?

Emporia EV Charger: Coverage Down, Rank-One Up

Emporia EV Charger's overall coverage fell 6.2 points from 46.0% in July to 39.8% in September, a significant decline. Its raw mention presence dropped 9.0 points to 46.5%, yet its rank-one recommendation rate rose 3.2 points to 8.8%.

This is a notable pairing: the brand was mentioned in fewer AI answers overall, but when it appeared, it was more likely to be the top recommendation. The gap between shrinking presence and improving rank-one position is worth examining.

Highest-priority diagnostic: Which prompts removed Emporia from mention entirely, and which prompts elevated it to rank one despite the overall decline in presence?

Buyer-Intent Interpretation

In September 2026, recommendation-shaped answers made up 49.6% of qualified observations, up from 43.7% in July. The current dataset does not provide a breakdown of the remaining observations across the Pricing & Value and Multi-Brand Comparison clusters, so this report cannot yet quantify how AI systems frame price, value, or head-to-head comparisons in this category. The recommendation landscape captured here is shaped primarily by direct brand-recommendation prompts.

Brand Opportunity Summary

The benchmark identifies where attention is warranted; a company-level analysis is needed to explain why.

Evidence Behind the Benchmark

The aggregate metrics are built from prompt-level observations (query, surface, recommendation outcome, rank, sentiment, and citations where exposed). Company-level analysis can go deeper into prompt, competitor, surface, and evidence patterns. Source presence is not automatically treated as proof of causation.

About This Benchmark

This report is part of the LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery research program.

• AI Industry Market Discovery
• AI Industry Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Industry Market Discovery Metrics
• AI Industry Market Discovery Standards

Report-Specific Interpretation Notes

• Movement in this report is measured from July 2026 (baseline) to September 2026 (current). Three brands moved beyond normal month-to-month variation from baseline; all three moved downward. August served as an intermediate month in a three-month series.
• The public metrics use the qualified benchmark set (535 observations in July, 568 in September), not the larger raw collection of 800 prompts.
• Movement identifies changes worth investigating; it does not by itself establish the cause of those changes.

Next Step

The Public Benchmark Shows Where a Brand Is Winning or Losing. A Company-Level Audit Shows Why.

The aggregate percentages in this report sit on top of individual prompt-level decisions: which high-intent prompts a brand wins, which competitor takes the recommendation when a brand loses, what attributes AI systems associate with each option, and which external sources are shaping those answers. For a brand like ChargePoint Home that lost rank-one ground, or Wallbox Pulsar Plus whose coverage eroded for a second consecutive month, the next question is not just how much ground shifted, but which specific prompts and surfaces drove the change.

A company-specific AI visibility audit maps those prompt, surface, competitor, ranking, sentiment, and evidence-source patterns into a prioritized visibility strategy. It turns the benchmark's signal into an actionable view of where a brand stands and what to do next.

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