TESLA logo on a charging station on May 26, 2023.
Harry Langer | Defodi Images | Getty Images
Tesla plans to put in 20,000 electric vehicle charging stations across 2,000 Hilton properties within the U.S., Mexico and Canada starting next yr, the businesses said Thursday.
For Tesla, the buildout of wall connectors is one other approach to increase mass adoption by offering more convenient charging locations. The corporate’s Universal Wall Connector can charge any North American vehicle model, not only Tesla vehicles. For Hilton, it’s about meeting demand from leisure and business travelers.
“We’re seeing a rapid and steep increase within the variety of requests for EV charging. We’re trying to fulfill our guests’ needs with this recent agreement with Tesla,” Matt Schuyler, Hilton’s chief brand officer, told CNBC.
The announcement coincides with the start of business travel season, as more executives will likely be attending conferences equivalent to the APEC Summit, Communacopia and Dreamforce, offering a chance for hotel operators to drive revenue. Over the summer, U.S. hotel rates fell as more Americans headed overseas to enjoy time in Europe. This fall, Wall Street analysts will need to see if hotel brands can get business travel bookings within the U.S. back to pre-pandemic levels.
Schuyler says the provision of EV charging stations is playing a major role in driving hotel bookings.
“The number-one search attribute for our hotels is shuttle access for airports. That is No. 1. No. 2 is EV charging. And that is a dramatic change that wasn’t even on the radar just a couple of years ago,” said Schuyler.
Hilton will work with its owners to discover properties alongside roadways and in other key urban locations that will make most sense for Tesla to put in its charging stations. The additions will make Hilton’s charging network the most important of any hospitality player, says the corporate.
Deepwater Asset Management’s managing partner Gene Munster predicts electric automobile adoption within the U.S. will steadily increase in the approaching years, from 2% in 2020 to 22% by 2025.
