How lack of EV chargers at some US hotels is proving to be a bump on a road trip

The journey is no longer the major pain point for electric car drivers embarking on the great American road trip. It is the destination.

For those who do not already own an electric vehicle, rental car businesses such as Hertz Global offer plenty of options across the cost spectrum.

And there are more than 63,000 places to plug in on the roads scattered around the US and Canada, with more coming soon at major filling stations.

However, EV chargers are still largely absent from one crucial node on many a road trip: Hotels and inns.

A recent survey of 17,000 hotels in the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) found only about a quarter offer EV charging.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings and Hyatt Hotels have chargers at less than a third of their US properties.

Calling around to more than two dozen Super 8s and Days Inns across the country, not a single one had a charger.

Even hotels that are EV-compatible may only have a spot for a single car or only for certain models.

Andrew Scott, 37, a lawyer planning a family road trip this summer from Chicago to Traverse City, Michigan, said he was “a bit anxious” about where to stay.

He bought a Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUV in April and the coming 480km-plus trip will be the farthest he has taken it.

Charger access will be a major factor in picking a hotel, he said. He wants the lodgings to have a relatively fast option – even if that bumps the cost up.

“I think once I plan it out, that will help,” he said.

Finding which hotels have chargers is not always that easy.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the largest hotel group in the US and operator of Days Inn and Super 8, does not have a way for prospective guests to search its properties for chargers, nor does it disclose how many of its establishments offer the service.

Its corporate headquarters, however, has an unspecified number of free EV chargers on site.

The company did not respond to a request for comment. Chief executive Geoff Ballotti has said expanding access is a priority for the company, but that is not likely to be of comfort to EV owners hitting the road this summer. Or maybe even the next.

“It’s something that we’re going to be very focused on in the years ahead,” Mr Ballotti told analysts in an October conference call.

“We’re partnering with some of the nation’s leading EV charging companies and we have a series of models that we’ve offered to our franchisees.”

Other big chains such as Marriott International and Choice Hotels International, which operates the Quality Inn and Econo Lodge brands, similarly do not disclose the number of hotels with chargers or allow guests to check for availability on their websites, although Choice has a filter on its mobile app.

Choice said 41 per cent of its Cambria brand hotels offer access, with the rest set to follow suit in 2024.

Some large hotel operators such as Hilton and Best Western International make it relatively easy to search online for properties with chargers, but there is no way to reserve one in advance the way you might a room with a view or a lounge chair by the pool.

Travel booking websites such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Kayak also allow users to scan for accommodation with charger access.

Airbnb has an EV charging filter, too, and last year said more than 850,000 properties included it as an amenity.

Tesla owners can also search the company’s website for “destination charging” stations at hotels across North America.

The AHLA unveiled an initiative last year called Responsible Stay that calls on members to adopt sustainable practices, including access to EV ports.

But the programme is voluntary and does not track industry progress.

The 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act also has some incentives for private companies, such as hotels, to apply for $2.5 billion in grants intended to fill gaps in the national charging system.

“A lot of hotels are just wondering what to do,” said Chip Rogers, the lodging association’s president and chief executive.

The lack of chargers and marketing for them is, in part, a result of the historically low percentage of EVs on the roads. That is set to change as EV sales rise.

“The demand is coming,” Mr Rogers said. And hotels that are ahead of the curve will have an edge with customers, he said.

Opal Hotels Group is expanding its charging capacity across its nine hotels. Four have ports and two more have ports under construction.

The group’s 10th hotel, under development, will have EV chargers when it opens. The company recently received an offer from Tesla to install Superchargers at one of its properties, which the group is considering.

“The data shows EVs are increasing and I think it’s going to become an amenity just like how you have to have parking,” said Mital Patel, the chief operating officer of the Raleigh, North Carolina-based hotel group. “Guests are going to come to expect it.”

Mr Patel’s hotels have a mix of free and paid chargers, and in the long run thinks most hotels will collect a fee from guests to cover costs.

Not all hotels can have chargers, or really need them. Many in urban areas do not have the space and guests travelling by air, who primarily use taxis, Uber and Lyft while they are there, do not need the spaces.

“The economics just don’t make sense in cases like that,” said Prof Bjorn Hanson from the New York University School of Professional Studies' Jonathan M Tisch Centre for Hospitality and Tourism.

Hotels that do not have chargers do often know of a nearby option.

The Super 8 in North Bergen, New Jersey sends people to a local Starbucks; the Days Inn in Scranton, Pennsylvania, offers up a rest stop.

The Marriott in Altoona, Pennsylvania says there is one at a Sheetz convenience store 10 or 15 minutes down the road.

Guests will not find themselves stranded but their holiday might include a little more time in random parking lots.