Tesla secures deal to deploy 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors at Hilton hotels

Tesla has secured a deal to deploy up to 20,000 Universal Wall Connectors, the automaker’s clever new charging station, at 2,000 Hilton hotel locations.

Hilton and Tesla already had a deal to install Tesla level 2 chargers, also known as Tesla Wall Connectors, to Hilton locations around the world.

In 2017, they had a deal for over 200 locations.

Today, Hilton confirmed that it “extended” its deal with Tesla to now have “up to 20,000 chargers” at 2,000 hotels in North America:

Through an expanded agreement with Tesla, Hilton today announced that, beginning in early 2024, up to 20,000 Tesla Universal Wall Connectors are slated to be installed at 2,000 hotels in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, making Hilton’s planned EV charging network the largest of any hospitality company.

The deal appears to have been secured with Tesla’s new “Universal Wall Connector” unveiled last month.

The new level 2 charger is equipped with a NACS connector to charge Tesla vehicles and upcoming EVs from other automakers adopting the standard, but the connector’s receptor can be unlocked to act as a J1772 adapter.

It can technically charge all electric vehicles in North America, which makes it a perfect level 2 charger for overnight charging at hotels.

Hilton commented in its announcement:

With at least six chargers at each of the selected hotels, Hilton will become the first choice for the dramatically increasing number of travelers who drive electric vehicles. This announcement follows the recent launch of Tesla’s Universal Wall Connector, a product designed to seamlessly charge any North American vehicle model, expanding Tesla’s efforts to make great charging available to all EVs.

The massive hotel chain interestingly noted that search of hotels with charge connectors was “the fastest volume of growth to-date, jumping from fourth to second highest in converting searches to stays” on its website.

Rebecca Tinucci, senior director of charging infrastructure at Tesla, commented on the announcement:

A key priority for Tesla Charging is installing low-cost, convenient AC charging anywhere electric vehicles are parked for more than an hour or two. To ensure electric vehicle adoption at scale, our joint industry goal must be to vastly improve upon the traditional gasoline vehicle ownership experience, not just meet it. Installing infrastructure at popular destinations like Hilton hotels enables EV owners to charge where they park, meaning no unnecessary refueling stops along their journey. We applaud Hilton for their leadership in the space and look forward to continuing to ramp this critical program with other industry leaders.

The deployment of the new charger at Hilton locations is expected to start next year.

Electrek’s Take

I didn’t even know there are 2,000 Hilton locations in North America, which is wild.

But forget about Hilton, I think Tesla will sign deals like that with all hotels. The Universal Wall Connector makes so much sense for the use case of hotels.

I am sure that if they are tracking it, other hotel chains will see the same thing as Hilton in terms of the impact of charging stations at their locations being a difference maker.

I know when I am driving and need a hotel, it is a must. All hotels are going to have that feature or they will leave behind an already big and rapidly growing market of EV owners.