Zoomi Life

Hawaii has endorsed a deal with Better Place, which puts together electrical charging infrastructures for EV use. This follows a deal with California and Oregon and will be the first of the state-wide setups to be completed.

Announced on December 2nd, the plan will have charging stations on Oahu installed and functioning within 18 months while the other four major islands will see more stations by 2012. Hawaii has some of the highest gasoline prices in the 50 states (all fuels are imported) and a strong, though still burgeoning, alternative power industry.

Some question the business plan since Hawaii has fewer drivers than most other states (only about 1.2 million cars on the road, about 10% of which are replaced annually) and shorter commutes than most areas. Most drivers rarely take trips of over 100 miles while most commute walking or biking distances of 1-4 miles to work.

Better Place and Hawaii’s governor are excited, however, and see this opportunity as a great way to facilitate more electric vehicle usage in the state. As a side note, Hawaii is second only to Florida for number of electric golf carts per capita.

Source: 1, 2