Marriott Has A New EV Charging Solution For Hotels In U.S. And Canada

Two weeks ago Hilton unveiled a plan to offer EV charging at 2,000 hotels in North America totaling 20,000 chargers.

So it should come as no surprise that Marriott is now out with news about EV charging for hotels in the U.S. and Canada..

At this point, though, there doesn’t appear to be any goal for EV charging or timeline to reach it, let alone a mandate for properties to offer it or subsidies for them to do so. Instead, it appears to be a new product that Marriott will present as an option to owners?

Marriott properties will have a turnkey solution to easily add and manage EV charging stations through the EV Connect platform. This is the first agreement of this type for Marriott and ensures that participating locations can provide reliable charging infrastructure at locations within the U.S. and Canada.

On the one hand that still puts them behind Hilton’s announcement. On the other hand hotels might at least have the option to offer level 3 charging?

Instead of going for a slam dunk with Tesla’s Universal Wall Connector that can charge both CCS Combo 1- and NACS-equipped EVs, the Maryland-based company chose EV Connect’s Shield product.That means Marriott will be able to pick what type of power dispensers it wants. The main advantage of this deal is that EV Connect can install not only Level 2 chargers but also Level 3 DC fast-charging stations.

Think of level 3 charging as around 12 times as fast as level 2 (though a lot of factors going into this, and it’ll vary). Roughly speaking a Tesla owner might recharge at around 10% per hour with level 2 charging, going from 20% to 80% charge in six hours. With level 3 they might be able to accomplish that same charge in less than 30 minutes.

My ultimate takeaway from Hilton’s announcement, and Marriott’s need to do something here, is that hotels see being prepared for EV’s – whether for road tripping guests or those renting the vehicles – as an important must-have in the future.