Are car cigarette lighters the same in Europe?
 

We would like to recharge our camera batteries in Europe. We have a car charger (in cigarette lighter), will this work in our rental car? Also, I've heard hotels in big cities have wall outlets that can accommodate our plugs, (without having to bring a converter/adapter)is this true? We will not have a car while in the city, so would like to charge our batteries in the hotel. Thanks for the help!

All automotive systems are the same all around the world. Some rentals have had their lighters disconnected, for reasons that are not entirely clear.

For charging in the hotel, refer to this article: fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?tid=35003244

If you are coming from Australia to Europe, you won't have to worry about a converter: They have 220-240V, same as us.

Most, but not all automotive cigarette lighter sockets are the same throughout the world. Some require an adapter that I found to be extremely difficult, but not impossible to locate in the U.S.

More information here:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35027163

I was told that many rental companies disconnect the lighters to discourage smoking which is supposedly forbidden in most rental cars. Frankly I don't know anyone who smokes who uses the car lighter anyway, do you? Seems to me those things have had the main purpose of charging phones and electronics for a while now.

Most modern cars in Europe come with the lighter socket, but not the lighter or ashtry - you have to buy those as an optional smokers pack. I think most hire companies will have the socket connected, but not have the smokers pack, as they realise how many things people want to charge in their cars nowadays -phone,ipod,TomTom, coolbox etc.