EV charges: From niche amenities to must haves
A popular news headline seen early this month ran along the lines of the Government aiming at promoting electric vehicles within tourist zones in the country. While the statement was admittedly broad and a tad vague, the writing is on the wall if you look at how EV sales have skyrocketed since the 2025 opening of the five-year auto import ban. The numbers are in the thousands, which, coupled with the retail price of these EVs, indicates a solid segment of potential local tourists. Hence, for EV owners, charging availability is a critical consideration when choosing accommodation – meaning hotels that fail to provide charging risk losing valuable guests to competitors that do.
Check-in, plug-in
There is, however, one major bugbear. Although EV charging happens mostly at home, EV drivers still need charging options when travelling for leisure. Whilst, EV technology has come a long way, the average EV on sale in Sri Lanka (excluding city cars) has a range of around 400 kilometres. This means that if you consider many tourist hotspots in the North, South and East, you can easily drive to them from the capital, but the return journey will be a little nail-biting or not possible at all. So, guests arriving in such vehicles will expect EV charging facilities. The same will go for tourism operators, including large travel agents and small, individual tourist drivers alike, who have made the EV switch for various reasons. Installing an EV charging facilities is thus vital: but how should you go about it? That’s the purpose of this article.
Who should I call to install my EV Charger?
First of all, don’t try to do it yourself. Go with a pro. There are some prominent local firms that offer turnkey solutions, and they’re best equipped to advise you. This is particularly valid for fast-charging equipment. If you don’t want to offer fast charging, you can get away with installing a couple of 13-ampere sockets next to a few parking spaces, but you’ll need to ensure that they’re properly wired, with their own breakers, and, most critically, guests will need to bring their vehicle’s ‘slow charger’ or portable charger with them. Needless to say, they’ll also need upwards of twelve hours for a full charge. Meaning: while they sleep, travelers expect to wake up to a “full tank” by morning. So, it’s always better to talk to a professional.
One charger, two chargers, how many do I need?
First off, one charger is out of the question. Even two may be a bit mean unless you’ve got a super-exclusive property with a single digit room count. This is another reason why I strongly advise you to engage with a professional EV charging solutions supplier; they’ll be able to give you the most appropriate number of chargers for your property’s room count. Another route to determine your ideal number of chargers is for to begin forecasting demand by routinely asking guests if they travel by EV. Ideally, you’ll want to minimize situations where your hotel is full and there are many EVs in the car park, but few chargers and disgruntled guests as a result.
Do I offer EV charging free or charge for it?
This depends on your overall value proposition. Some properties offer it free of charge (naturally, those with overall higher average room rates), while others make it a paid service. Of course, you’ll need to decide how much to charge, whether you’re going to be on parity with a commercial charging station, subsidize things a bit, or go premium pricing. Suffice to say, patrons shouldn’t feel ripped off! Perhaps a reasonable middle ground would be to offer one free charge to 100% per guest vehicle, thus enabling them to ‘juice up’ for their return journey, on the house – with any extra charging after that being payable.
Safety
EVs and their chargers do have a certain stigma around them, despite the fact that there hasn’t been a single reported EV or EV charger-related fire in Sri Lanka, at the time of writing. Needless to say, you should ensure that there are ample fire-fighting supplies in ready supply, and that your EV charging station or area is suitably placed away from the main building or any guest accommodations of your hotel. When you install public EV charging stations, you need to guarantee they can safely operate through ongoing use. In addition to the necessary electrical equipment to protect against faults, over currents, or short circuits, all charging station parts should be manufactured and installed to withstand rain, blowing dust, gusty winds and other potential weather-related issues.
Oh, and don’t forget to ensure that your EV charging area is amply lit, for guest safety. There’s nothing more dodgy than arriving late at night, wishing to charge your EV, only to be directed into a dimly-lit area off the main area of the hotel, where all manner of unwanted visitors (two and four-legged) may lurk, unseen.
Charging etiquette
We humans can be a rather selfish bunch at times. Unlike a petrol or diesel top-up which can be accomplished in a matter of minutes, EVs take hours to charge. Plus, we plug them in ourselves. That means, you can encounter situations where a fully-charged EV is still parked and plugged into the charging station, hogging up the space, sitting there doing nothing. This can lead to tension, especially as those who need to urgently charge their EV arrive, only to encounter this situation.
That’s why you’ve got to set some house rules particularly that all fully-charged EVs need to be removed from the charging space within a set amount of time. Countries with a higher proliferation of EVs tend to levy ‘parking’ or ‘idling’ fees, or just engage in towing such EVs away from the charger. Of course, you, as a hotel, may not need to be so draconian. A simple warning of extra charges might be enough, or you could offer your valet service to move fully-charged EVs into the regular car park.
Future-proofing & sustainability leadership
As EV adoption continues to rise, hotels that invest in charging infrastructure now position themselves ahead of the curve. Providing EV charging helps meet sustainability targets, improves ESG performance and aligns with the growing eco-conscious consumer base.
Ashraaq Wahab - Director of Marketing and Technical Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer, Photographer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics.
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