Installation of the Month (June 2021): Hyatt Place Riverside/Downtown

The ability to travel is something many of us take for granted. Our Interstate Highway System allows us to freely traverse state boundaries – to go wherever we choose whenever we choose – from the snow-capped Colorado Rockies to the soupy Everglade swamplands to the historic lighthouses of coastal New England. However, EV drivers are more acutely aware of their travel limitations because many areas of the country have yet to adopt pro-electric infrastructure policies, often leaving them with few ground-travel options other than ICE vehicles. We knew getting more Americans to embrace the electric revolution would require buy-in from the hospitality industry. As such, much of our focus has gone toward hotels that, by serving as site hosts for charging stations, can help kickstart that ubiquitous access required to convert many EV holdouts.

As the 2021 vacation season shifts into high gear, we felt it was only appropriate to make the beautifully appointed Hyatt Place Riverside/Downtown – home to one of our newest charging installations – the featured site for June. The contemporary five-story building located at 3500 Market Street in the heart of Riverside can be seen here:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hyatt+Place+Riverside%2FDowntown/@33.9854347,-117.385424,15z/data=!3m1!5s0x80dcb1f07ee885d5:0x9be8fe34febc200e!4m8!3m7!1s0x80dcb1f080deee6f:0x43303e7c9b61d412!5m2!4m1!1i2!8m2!3d33.9851488!4d-117.3735366

Hyatt Place is conveniently nestled among countless restaurants, bars and cafes, with popular area attractions like the Riverside Convention Center and Fox Performing Arts Center just a short walk away. Guests can enjoy luxurious guest rooms with signature bedding, a complimentary breakfast bar, swimming pool, fitness center, meeting rooms and a 24-hour mini market, all while their EVs charge outside. Moreover, the property sits along a key travel corridor that links metro Los Angeles with hip desert city vacation spots further east like Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage. More about Hyatt Place can be found on their website here:

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/california/hyatt-place-riverside-downtown/ralzr

Clearly, we were thrilled when management asked us to install not one, but three Tritium Veefil RT50 DC fast chargers. These slim, stylish, lightweight stations boast up to 50kW of power, 380-480 VAC supply input, a liquid-cooled interior, and a durable UV-resistant, easy-to-use exterior. The units can charge any EV on the road, require very low maintenance, and feature Open Charge Point Protocol, which allows for seamless integration with the EVCS network.

Hyatt’s commitment to furthering green energy solutions is no surprise to anyone who takes a simple glance at their “Our Planet” webpage, which states, “The biggest environmental challenges cannot be solved alone, so we collaborate with companies in our industry and beyond, stakeholders, and experts to stay at the forefront of best practices and to contribute toward meaningful solutions.” Hyatt Hotels Corporation President and CEO Mark Hoplamazian goes further, declaring, “We have a responsibility to grow thoughtfully and with purpose. We have to build and operate more efficient hotels to reduce waste, energy… and carbon emissions.”

With industry leaders like Hyatt paving the way toward a future where responsible mobility is the norm rather than the exception, we’re confident other hospitality chains will soon follow. And not only hotels and motels, but landmarks, national parks, amusements and other tourist sites that see electrified transportation as an important part of our nation’s future. The ability to freely travel the roads of our great country is so critical to our identity as Americans, but thus far such travel has mainly been limited to pollution-emitting ICEs; now, with Hyatt’s help, EV drivers will be able to start experiencing that freedom, too!

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Installation of the Month (February 2021): Hollywood & Highland

In the movie Spider-man, Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility.” The phrase, which came to be known as the “Peter Parker Principle,” is just as true today as it was 20 years ago when the movie first premiered. And just as Peter took seriously his newfound powers, we take seriously our responsibility to facilitate broader access to vehicle electrification options – quite literally the “great power” here is the electricity that keeps EVs moving. We also understand the power of movies and television to convey the importance of electric mobility, be it through information, entertainment or influence marketing. As such, Hollywood has become a tremendous partner in advancing the EVCS mission.

Installation of the Month (January 2021): Barlow Respiratory Hospital

While 2021 brings hope and promise for greater widespread adoption of electric mobility, a quick glance at our portfolio reminds us of all the headway we’ve already made toward that end. Last year, we seized on positive customer sentiment and abundant fiscal opportunities in the green energy space, allowing us to become one of the top installers of EV charging infrastructure in the State of California (with 500+ installations completed and counting). As such, we thought it might be worthwhile to share some of these installations with you – a new success story each month – so that you can see firsthand the favorable strides we’re making toward a carbon-neutral future.

2020: A Year in Review

Two thousand twenty has been a year of undeniable adversity, but also one of remarkable achievement. A year of firsts and hopefully a few lasts. A time of toil and tribulation, but also of triumph. For genuine success is partly defined by our ability to hurdle those implacable obstacles that make the result so noteworthy in the first place. Now, as the EVCS team looks back on this unusual year, we take stock of our unique achievements that made 2020 one for the books.

Electrification Progress in the Age of COVID

It’s pretty clear that vaccine or no, COVID will be here for a while, and with it the new normal of face masks, social distancing, telecommuting and (consequently) less road travel. While some might view this with trepidation, we see it as an opportunity. Since the earliest weeks of the pandemic, major metro areas like Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago – those with large reductions in automobile traffic – immediately began seeing improvements in air quality, according to articles in the New York Times and Washington Post. More recent, an NPR story noted ozone pollution has decreased as much as 15% in many of these places. It seems an unintended consequence of the lockdown has been to accelerate the transition to responsible mobility by demonstrating its positive effects on the environment.

Commentary on Geotab’s 2020 EV Fleet Trends Article – Part II

Two weeks ago, we published part one of our commentary on Geotab’s in-depth article, “Electric Vehicle Trends 2020: Top 6 Factors Impacting Fleet Electrification” (https://www.geotab.com/white-paper/electric-vehicle-trends/). Again, the idea was to assess whether each of the trends were evolving as Geotab predicted and, if so, how EVCS was responding to them in the marketplace. Below are the final three trends referenced and our thoughts on each.