Airbnb Bolts Ahead of Competition, Offers 850K Listings With EV Chargers

Road trip route planning for an electric vehicle takes into account charging stops needed along the way. But, once on-site at a destination, the charging situation is oftentimes more up in the air than drivers are comfortable with.

Airbnb announced recently that the company now has hundreds of thousands of listings that feature electric vehicle (EV) charging capabilities. As of Q4 2021, the company reported that more than 850,000 listings include chargers among their amenities.

In a press release, the company says that the growing number of chargers available in their listings meets the demand shown by prospective renters. By the end of Q4 2021, Airbnb counted more than 500,000 unique searches for EV chargers between June and December of that year.

The ability to search for electric vehicle charging capabilities when seeking a lodging destination is part of Airbnb's sustainable travel mission.

Not all the locations are in electric vehicle-rich areas like San Francisco or Los Angeles. A Newsweek search of the Denver area for a weeklong rental in April with the EV charger amenity selected yielded 63 options. That same search of the Seattle area turned up 80 results.

Vrbo, a competitor to Airbnb, currently doesn't offer an EV charger search filter, though individual hosts can list them in descriptions.

File photo of someone looking at AirBnB. Yuriko Nakao/Getty Images

Online travel aggregators Expedia.com and Booking.com both have filters for EV charging when searching for hotels or vacation rentals.

According to hotel chain Marriott, more than 3,137 EV chargers are available for use at its properties around the country.

EV charging company Chargepoint has partnerships with Marriott, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Hyatt Regency, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Best Western.

Public EV chargers at hotels can also be spotted on apps like PlugShare.

Original article appears at newsweek.com.