Take our user survey and make your voice heard.
Marriott has partnered with Plugo, a Japanese electric vehicle (EV) charging service company that only uses renewable energy such as solar and wind power.
In support of the hospitality company’s targets to reduce its environmental footprint by 2025 and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by no later than 2050, the collaboration will introduce EV charging stations to 30 Marriott hotels in Japan by 2024.
“We are dedicated to enhancing our EV charging infrastructure and services to fulfill our vision of ‘creating a future that motivates people to keep moving forward’,” said Naoki Okawa, Representative Director & CEO, Plugo. “Our goal is to minimize our environmental footprint, but also offer a seamless and convenient EV experience for our customers. Our partnership with Marriott International is the outcome of our shared values and goals, and we are excited to work together towards a more sustainable world.”
The collaboration will first kick-off with six properties in 2023, including Moxy Tokyo Kinshicho, The Westin Tokyo, Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel (pictured above), Fairfield by Marriott Tochigi Utsunomiya, Fairfield by Marriott Gifu Gujo and Fairfield by Marriott Tochigi Nikko, before expanding to more locations over the years.
Through this collaboration, EV charging stations at Marriott hotels in Japan will be available to all hotel guests and members of the public who use MY Plugo, a smartphone app designed by Plugo to book EV charging stations.
The installations will help strengthen Japan’s EV charging infrastructure and transition its transportation sector towards a cleaner, greener future.
“We are incredibly excited to bring EV charging stations powered by renewable energy to our hotels, offering more sustainable solutions and enhanced convenience for our guests and travellers,” said Karl Hudson, Area Vice President Japan & Guam, Marriott International. “As a company, we are dedicated to integrating sustainable practices into our operations. This collaboration with Plugo represents a significant milestone in our sustainability efforts, and we hope it will lead to more innovations that will create a positive impact for our planet, people and local communities.”
© Travel News Asia
2 Comments
Login to comment
1glenn
It is important to state that Plugo will try to power these charging stations with clean energy. EVs are effective fighters against global warming only if their electricity is cleaner than burning gasoline or diesel.
I don't want to sound like I am jumping on the anti-China bandwagon, but they have a big problem with how they generate the electricity for their massive fleet of EVs. Over 50% of the electricity in China is generated by burning coal, one of the worst ways possible to generate electricity. China is still building new coal fired power plants, which in this day and age is ridiculous.
For a comparison, over the last few decades, we in California went from generating over 20% of our electricity by burning coal, to today making less than one half of one percent of our electricity from coal. The one and only last coal fired power plant in the state is scheduled to be closed down within the next 2 or 3 years. Natural gas is still the largest single source for power plants in the state, but we are making gigantic efforts to replace the natural gas with renewables.
I would point out that California is the world leader in generating electricity from geothermal sources. Where geothermal energy is near the surface and plentiful, it is the low hanging fruit for energy production. We generate almost four times as much geothermally sourced energy as Iceland, which country gets much more recognition for their efforts.
1glenn
Building EV charging stations is a very important goal, at Marriott hotels or elsewhere. Without them, range anxiety becomes a big problem.
Another thing Musk did right was make Tesla charging stations ubiquitous here in South Cal, one of his largest markets. Seems like every where I go, I see a row of Tesla charging ports, with most of them in use. There is a good reason why Tesla EVs have a large market share. With so many charging stations, range anxiety is not something to worry about here in California.