ELECTRIC VEHICLES are quickly taking charge on the world’s most popular road trips and more and more environmentally-conscious vacationers want to use an EV when they go on vacation. However, finding countries that can accommodate EVs with charging stations, especially in rural areas, can be a bit daunting.
Thankfully, UK-based Comparethemarket.com has done some research into the matter and has come up with an extensive list of countries that offer support for EVs.
Not surprisingly, the United States leads the world in EV charging stations with 29,252, followed by Germany (28,967) and the United Kingdom (17,616). Canada, with 4,941 charging stations stretched across our vast land, placed a respectable seventh on the Top 10 list, behind Holland (10,553), Norway (8,965) and Italy (7,037), but ahead of Sweden (5,052), France (3,549), and Spain (2,245).
    On the other side of the ledger, countries like Egypt (3 stations), Ecuador (2), Kenya (3), Costa Rica (2), Argentina (2), Bermuda (12) and Aruba (1) lag well behind more developed countries when it comes to EV support.
A recent Bloomberg News report predicts  sales of electric vehicles will increase from a record 1.1 million worldwide in 2017 to 11 million in 2025 and 30 million by 2030 as the price of manufacturing the vehicles falls.

Younger travellers are leading the way with demands for electric vehicles when on holidays.

The International Energy Agency disagrees. They predict that by 2030, there will be 125 million EVs on the road worldwide.
In 2017, the number of electric vehicles on American highways reached 3.1 million — a staggering 54 per cent increase over the year before.
Many European governments are already legislating the use of EVs. In fact, eight of the Top 10 countries on the Comparethemarket.com chart are members of the EU.
Hotel chains are also responding to the increased use of EVs by holiday travellers. Marriott, for instance, told TraveLife that it offers 1,700 charging stations at 600 of its properties in Canada and the U.S. While most Marriott properties offer the charging service complimentary, some of its hotels and motels do charge a small fee.
CNN reports that companies like Hilton and Destination Hotels have partnered with Tesla (some Tesla chargers only work on Tesla cars) or with other electronic businesses like General Electric or Kerbspace. These companies provide units that can charge every other kind of EV on the market, including the Nissan Leaf, the top-selling electric car in the world.
Sights like www.chargehotels.com help you find EV-friendly hotels in the U.S. and Canada.
The Comparethemarket.com survey reveals the best road trips for electric vehicles across Africa, Asia, Europe and North America and maps out some routes. For instance, the incredibly beautiful 10.5-hour, 972km road trip between Calgary and Vancouver in a EV requires four charges but there’s 201 charging stations along the route.
If you’re considering taking some iconic road trips but are worried if the  country you’re visiting has enough charging stations, here are some examples:

• South Africa: Cape Town to Port Elizabeth spans 748km so you’ll need three charges but there’s only 10 charging stations along this route;
• Japan: Osaka to Tokyo; 503km, two charges, 250 stations;
• Portugal: Porto to Lisbon; 313km, one charge, 189 stations;
• United States: Chicago to Los Angeles; 3,241km, five charges, 137 stations.
The Comparethemarket.com research found the Tesla Model S 100D Dual Motor AWD to be the EV with the highest range. Meanwhile,  the group also concluded that the Volkswagen e-Up! and Renault Zoe R110 ZE 40 have the shortest charging speeds. Interestingly, the Hyundai Ioniq Electric combines both — the best ranges for cost per kilometre and charging time.
Travellers who want to be plugged into the future of travel better invest in an EV.