Hotel hopes charging station doesn’t generate shocking rates

Hotels that want to offer their guests fast-charging stations to power up the electric cars of green-minded guests may worry about getting stuck with higher electric bills.

The Shore Hotel in Santa Monica — which describes itself as an eco-chic hotel — says it has solved the problem by installing an energy storage system to go along with a fast-charging system that can power up an EV in about 30 minutes.

The storage system will stockpile energy during low electricity demand periods throughout the day so that electric vehicle owner can charge up without causing a spike in a hotel’s electric bill.

“By flattening out the demand, we are saving the hotel money,” said Vic Shao, chief executive of Green Charge Networks, which builds the storage system. He said the storage systems, which are the size of a small refrigerator, can save hotels thousands of dollars per month.

But other hotel owners say they are happy to pay higher electric bills if it means drawing in more guests.

“The goal is to bring people to your property,” said Patricia Griffin, founder of the Green Hotels Assn., a Houston-based group that promotes green policies for hotels. “These people are enthusiastic about the whole green issue so you want them to come.”

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