Mr. Kinard

Eco-Friendly Practices

Electric Car Charging Stations: Hotel Guests Check-in and Plug-in

By Andy Kinard, President, Car Charging Group Inc.

A Travelocity poll recently revealed that up to three-quarters of travelers were happy to pay a little extra cash for eco hotels and tours. To remain competitive, the over 49,505 hotel properties across the U.S. must adopt greener business practices to cater to the every-growing eco-traveler market.

You may already invite your guests to hang up their towels or skip washing bed linens every day in order to conserve water. You may also use compact fluorescent light bulbs. But with a recent Deloitte survey indicating that nearly half of all travelers try to make environmentally-friendly decisions while traveling and a quarter of those surveyed are willing to pay more for green accommodations and transport, hotels need to do more to remain competitive.

With the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt slated to pull up to hotel properties as soon as January 2011, hoteliers can not afford to miss this green marketing opportunity before it passes them by.

The Nissan Leaf is a fully electric, 24-kilowatt battery-operated car that can be driven for about 100 miles. The Chevy Volt is a plug-in hybrid vehicle with a battery and internal combustion engine, also known as a range extender. The Chevy Volt can be driven in the fully electric mode for about 40 miles. With the introduction of these vehicles on the road approaching us very shortly, how can you accommodate guests that drive these vehicles?

One simple solution is installing an electric vehicle (EV) charging station in your hotel’s parking area. There are two ways of doing this. The first way is to purchase and install a simple EV charger, similar to the ones that you would install in your home. By purchasing this charger, hotel owners can provide electricity to those electric vehicle owners who stay at their hotel. With this option, you cannot charge the customer for their usage, and the machine does not communicate its location to the Internet.

The second and more cost-effective way is to hire a company that installs smart chargers. Smart chargers are public electric vehicle charging stations that communicate to EV owners the location of the charger. Their exact locations show up on Google Maps, smart phone applications, and built-in GPS systems. Many hotel owners are hesitant to take the risk of purchasing their own charging station. The better route for hesitant owners is to work with a company, such as Car Charging Group, that installs and maintains the charging station at no cost to the owners. In fact, hotel owners share a percentage of the sales from electric vehicles being charged.

How does an electric vehicle charging station work?

About eight years ago, a major electric vehicle initiative failed. Part of the problem was that every electric vehicle had its own individual 220 Volt charger that would not work with any other vehicle. It was hard enough to find chargers, but you had to find the exact charger for your vehicle. Today, the industry standardized the 220 Volt EV charging stations so they can charge any type of electric vehicle or plug-in hybrids. Today’s chargers work like a traditional gas station where EV owners can park at any unit and charge their vehicle.

Charging units will have a designated parking spot with a sign to notify drivers that the spot is reserved for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids only. Each public charger is equipped with a cell phone in the device to communicate with the Internet. This connection then tells EV owners if another customer is using the charging unit or if it is open and available for use. Once drivers locate the charger, they can use a credit card or membership card to start the charging process. The charging unit then sends a signal to authorize the purchase and begin the charging session. The unit opens and allows you to charge with a 110-volt or a 220-volt charger, which resembles a gas pump. The difference between the two voltages is the amount of time it takes to charge the vehicle. It can take an estimated three to four hours to charge a vehicle, depending on the type of vehicle and the voltage used to charge it.

How do electric vehicles affect your business?

These cars need to be charged to run. Public EV charging station locations show up on the Internet. So, if someone is driving their EV and needs to “fill up”, they will be directed to your location. Once they are there, they will need to stay for an hour or two to get an appreciable amount of charge.

By installing EV charging stations, hotel owners can turn their average property into an environmentally friendly hotel. According to the United States Green Building Council, properties will earn 1 LEED point if an electric vehicle charging station is installed. In addition to earning LEED points, electric vehicle charging stations have the ability to keep a running tally of carbon offsets. This may not seem like a big deal, but by installing an electric vehicle charging station now you will be able to market your hotel as a “green” hotel and will tell potential customers that you are EV friendly and ahead of other hotels. I estimate that in two years from now, almost every hotel property will have at least one electric vehicle charging station.

Today we are living in an uncertain economy. In this climate, people are most concerned about employment and paying the bills. According to NovaCharge, every installation creates three jobs. Companies that offer EV charging station services use local contractors and electrical contractors in the city of the business to install the units. This brings more green jobs to your city and makes your property environmentally friendly.

The vast majority of commutes made by Americans are less than 40 miles. Hotel guests however, are not making traditional commutes. Hotels will help alleviate range anxiety by drivers when they are assured they can charge their vehicle hassle-free while they sleep or eat at the hotel’s restaurant. Whether you own an electric car or a plug-in hybrid, both vehicles still have to be charged and ready for the next day’s commute.

Rental companies can also drive in more business to your property. In the past, rental companies have purchased Toyota Prius’ when they were brand new and offered them to customers to rent. Customers jumped on the opportunity to drive a car they may not have the opportunity to drive back at home. This increased the customers’ comfort and likeability of the Toyota Prius and companies saw more and more renters requesting the Prius. Rental companies will soon offer electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to customers. Hertz, for example, has already requested 500 Nissan Leafs for their fleet of vehicles.

Electric vehicle charging stations can also benefit our country. Did you know that a spike in the cost of oil preceded every major economic downturn in the last 25 years? If you adjust for inflation, electricity is cheaper now than it was 25 years ago. Additionally, our country spends $400 billion a year on foreign oil and we have nothing to show for it. If we spent this amount of money on electricity then all of the money stays in the United States and the jobs stay in our country. Not to mention, it benefits our national security when we do not have to rely on other countries to fill our dependency of oil.

Furthermore, the United States spends $90 billion a year keeping shipping lanes opened for oil worldwide with no assistance from other countries. We are stuck in a routine of spending an enormous amount of money with nothing to show for it. Moreover, if there is a technical advancement in internal combustion engines, it can take years to make its way into the market. However, if there is a technical advancement in electricity generation, that efficiency upgrade is passed on to the electric vehicles immediately.

Installing car charging stations are a smart move for businesses – not only from a “green” perspective, but also for their bottom line. As electric cars hit the road, business owners with the foresight to implement stations as a marketing tool and a way to turn profit will reap the rewards.

As President of Miami Beach, Florida-based Car Charging Group Inc., Andy Kinard spearheads the company’s mission to accomplish this goal by developing a nationwide infrastructure to provide, install and maintain conveniently-located electric car charging stations compatible with all electric vehicles at no cost to the business/property owner. Prior to joining Car Charging Group, Mr. Kinard was an integral part of the pioneering team tasked with developing the necessary infrastructure for charging electric vehicles (EV) at Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), one of the largest and highest-performing electric utilities in the nation. Through his 15-year engineering tenure with FPL, Mr. Kinard became immersed in numerous automobile and environment-related initiatives in Florida. Mr. Kinard can be contacted at 305-521-0200 or andy@carcharging.com Extended Bio...

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