Hilton on Thursday announced plans to install up to 20,000 Tesla Universal Wall Connector EV chargers at 2,000 hotels in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
Hilton plans to begin installing chargers in early 2024, with at least six chargers at each location, according to a company press release. The company indicated this is in response to growing consumer demand for EV chargers at hotels, noting a growing number of searches for EV charging on its website. Hotel chains’ commitment to EV charging has been remarkably sparse, so this could indeed be filling pent-up demand.
Tesla Universal Wall Connector
The project marks one of the first large-scale deployments of the Tesla Universal Wall Connector, a recently launched Level 2 AC wallbox charger that can support both Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector and the J1772 connector used by most other automakers’ EVs.
Tesla estimates these chargers can added up to 44 miles of range per hour from their 48-amp/11.5-kw output. On its website, Tesla also notes that the Universal Wall Connector supports pay-per-use functionality and 24/7 remote monitoring—which would seem to make them a good fit for installations at businesses. The website says units will begin shipping in October.
In the release, neither Hilton nor Tesla call the planned hotel chargers Destination Chargers, which is Tesla’s standard branding for public AC chargers. It’s likely they’ll be indexed by Tesla in the same way as other Destination Chargers.
Hilton hotels add Tesla charging
In several surveys, Tesla offers the best experience—not just with road-trip fast-charging, but with the Level 2 Destination Chargers. Tesla has in the past offered some employers free Level 2 chargers—although then, the connectors only applied to Teslas.
It’s not surprising that owners are more satisfied with predictable wall chargers than with plugging in mobile cords—and it could provide some extra assurance when on road trips.