Electric car owners seem doomed to struggle for choice when it comes to finding a hotel that offers EV charging.
A study of some 15,000 hotels with parking facilities, covering 74 cities in the UK, was undertaken by Drax Electric Vehicles.
The research dicovered that only six percent of hotels made EV charging available to guests, with smaller cities leading the way on charge point provision.
Small in size, big on charging
St Davids in Wales may be one of the smallest cities in the UK, but it manages to lead the way in terms of hotels with EV charging provision.
Of the 18 hotels in the city that provide parking, more than a fifth (22 percent) have the option to recharge an electric car.
Other small cities in the top 10 include St Albans, with 13 percent of hotels offering charging. Ely in Cambridgeshire has 11 percent doing the same.
Central London claimed third place on the list overall. Even so, only 79 of the 539 hotels surveyed (15 percent) could offer EV charging on-site.
However, Manchester (six percent), Birmingham (four percent) and Liverpool (three percent) all demonstrate that Britain’s big cities have plenty of work to do.
EV charging now a necessity
Adam Hall, director at Drax Electric Vehicles, commented: “We are seeing a record number of electric vehicles on our roads, with zero-emission vehicles accounting for 2.7 percent of all cars in use in 2023. While uptake is often higher in major metropolitan cities like London, where policies such as the ULEZ incentivise EV ownership, our research shows a need for further development in charging infrastructure across many hotels.
“If hospitality businesses want to keep pace with the rapidly growing EV market, they must invest now to build a reputation for offering good EV charging facilities.”
Naomi Nye, charging specialist at Drax, added: “As electric car adoption grows, hotels must focus on becoming more EV-friendly. Offering EV chargers is no longer a premium experience but a necessity.”
Smaller accommodation businesses are potentially eligible for grants to assist with EV charging, through the Government’s Workplace Charging Scheme.
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