With people opting for EVs when they're buying new vehicles, they find themselves considering charging stations as factors when traveling, whether it's the route they take or the place they stay in. Airbnb recognizes that a charging station can entice EV drivers, and so the company is making it cheaper for hosts to install one.
Airbnb Partners with ChargePoint
EV drivers have a habit of plugging their vehicle overnight so it would be fully charged by morning when they have to use it, but that's not possible if the place they're renting during travels doesn't have a charging station.
Hosts who rent out listings with one will definitely be preferred by EV drivers, and this is a factor that will put them above other locations in one aspect. The problem is that the installation of a charging station is not exactly cheap.
Luckily for Airbnb hosts, the company is working with ChargePoint, which means that they will get a discounted deal when they do decide to have a station installed. They can purchase the package through a new dedicated online store, as reported by The Verge.
The package includes the charging hardware, installation services, and support services. Hosts can get up to a 36% discount for certain ChargePoint hardware models, and that's besides the $100 discount for installation through the site. The cheapest one will cost $399.
Airbnb hosts will have to avail of the discount quickly as only the first 1,000 who buy a home charger from the company would get the $200 discount covered by Airbnb, which is a significant deduction given that some charger models can exceed $1,000.
The rental company claims that customers using the EV charger filter have grown since 2022, which saw an increase of 80% in just a year. Listings with EV chargers are also booked for more nights than the ones without, effectively earning more income than others.
The charging stations to be installed in Airbnb locations will work similarly to other ChargePoint stations. Users will need the dedicated app from the company to activate it. If they already have the app installed, it will be easy enough to use.
ChargePoint
The charging platform company has been operational since 2007 across Europe and North America, and claims to have "pioneered EV charging solutions that work with every make and model of EV on the road."
Users can connect to ChargePoint's network through the partner experience, allowing them to navigate it through Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, or other in-dash infotainment systems. The company already has hundreds of thousands of stations within its network and partners.
The company boasts of having over 5,000 brands trust it for EV charging needs, with about 74% of them being Fortune 50 companies and 60% being Fortune 500 companies, including Ikea, Kohler, Best Western, Greystar, and more.
Overall, ChargePoint already managed to power nine billion electric miles for EVs, and avoided 1.9 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emission, which is one of the selling points for EVs compared to the carbon emissions of combustion engines.
