AP Photo/ The Honolulu Advertiser / Greg Yamamoto
Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, second from right, shows the electric components under the hood of a converted Nissan Rogue to Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, Tuesday, in Honolulu.
Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii. Gov. Linda Lingle unveiled plans Tuesday to roll out electric car stations statewide, a move she hailed as a major step toward weaning the islands off oil. (NEWSCOM)
Hawaii endorses ambitious electric car plan
By Eoin O'Carroll | 12.03.08
Hawaii’s governor has announced plans to create an extensive electric-car-charging network by 2012, in an effort to wean the islands off of high-priced oil.
The plan, unveiled today by Republican governor Linda Lingle, calls for a public-private partnership with Better Place, a company that develops infrastructure to support electric vehicles. The Silicon Valley start-up, which made a similar deal with cities in California’s San Francisco Bay Area last month, plans to install between 70,000 to 100,000 charging ports throughout Hawaii’s four largest islands. Hawaiian Electric Companies, the state’s largest utility, has agreed to collaborate with Better Place to develop the network.
Much of the electricity used to charge the vehicles is expected to come from renewable energy sources, according to Better Place CEO Shai Agassi. “Hawai‘i, with its ready access to renewable energy resources like solar, wind, wave and geothermal, is the ideal location to serve as a blue print for the rest of the U.S. in terms of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, growing our renewable energy portfolio and creating an infrastructure that will stabilize our economy,” said Mr. Agassi in a press release. “Hawai‘i has made the commitment to breaking its dependence on foreign oil, and is leading the way in addressing the most important economic and energy issues facing us today.”
Hawaii spends $7 billion on oil imports annually. The Wall Street Journal explains the scale of this burden:
Hawaiians pay high electricity prices because costly oil is burned to produce power. The price of electricity ranges from 24.9 cents per kilowatt hour on Oahu to 38.5 cents on Hawaii, the big island, compared with an average of 8.9 cents in the continental U.S. Such high prices should encourage the development of renewable energy. But there has been a big impediment: Electricity can’t be moved among the six major islands, because there aren’t adequate transmission lines.
That could be changing. There are now proposals to build large wind farms on Molokai and Lanai, and to turn those two islands, along with Maui, into a single grid, with the help of undersea cables. Surplus energy would be sent to Oahu, which consumes 80% of the state’s electricity, on another undersea transmission line. These transmission upgrades could cost $750 million to $1 billion.
The island state is well-suited to electric vehicles, as drivers rarely travel more than 100 miles at a time, reducing the need for stations where depleted batteries are swapped for fresh ones. The New York Times notes that Better Place hopes to get started in such island economies (both literal and figurative) that have high energy costs and short trips, and then subsequently become more affordable as the charging networks are scaled up.
“We always knew Hawaii would be the perfect model,” Mr. Agassi told the Times. “The typical driving plan is low and leisurely, and people are smiling.”
In addition to partnering with Hawaii and Bay Area cities, Better Place has begun building stations in Denmark, Israel, and Australia.
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2. Lisa Lisa | 12.04.08
with such a wonderful concept. I can see the communities flocking with their yukons, chevys, subarus, mazdas, mitsubishis, pontiacs, fords, and looking for a way to plug their cars in… Geezis Mario… lets get the electric cars there first! Even I with a Civic Hybrid cant use it. :(
nothing like the cart before the horse mentality.
3. dmay | 12.04.08
I think it’s worth noting that currently petroleum provides nearly nine-tenths of all the energy consumed in Hawaii. Yes, that’s right - petroleum fired plants create the electricity for Hawaii. They don’t have the infrastructure nor distribution network set up for wind, wave or geothermal. I want change as much as anyone - but lala-land feel good gestures will not move us forward. In fact, it will merely create cynicism which will ultimately lead to lack of will to move towards real solutions.
4. Rob | 12.04.08
A lot of information on how to build an electric car, including cost cutting measures and design tips, can be found on Frank Didik’s website at: http://www.didik.com/didik_ev.htm. In particular, check out the section entitled “How to Build an Electric Car”, “Didik Turtle or How to build a two person electric vehicle in 14 hours” and “Critical and accurate assessment of electric vehicles”. He is the first to truly mention the pro’s and con’s of electric cars and an excellent history directory of electric cars, starting in the 1800’s. Many years ago, Didik was the found of the Electric Car Society.
5. Arthur E. Lemay | 12.04.08
This sounds like a pipe dream. Electric cars are just not ready to replace gasoline cars, no matter what the dreamers say. This dream will cause the state of Hawaii to have a total disaster. There are four reasons:
1) Consumers do not like electric cars because it may take up to seven hours to do a recharge. And, if the power fails in a location remote to the charging station, the car will need to towed. This means there needs to be a large number of recharging stations — almost as many as gasoline stations.
2) Powering the cars with windmill power is truly inadequate. All the windmill turbines installed in the U.S. produce only as much power as a single large coal powered plant, and these turbines take so much valuable space, especially on the seacoast where the winds are more reliable, that the power costs will be truly astronomical. The issue is not generating power, it is converting poor power quality (because the power varies as to the strength of the wind and it stops if the winds do not blow) to the standards of the power grid, providing distribution networks, and backing up the turbines with power that can be relied on 24 hours a day and 365 days a year.
3) The load on a marginal power infrastructure may require more traditional power plants in order to provide the capacity to power the vehicles, making the use of oil problem worse.
4 And, projects like this need to solve the “chicken and egg” problem: people will not buy electric cars until the infrastructure is in place, and the infrastructure cannot be self-sustaining until there are a large number of electric cars. This means the state will need to subsidize the operation with many billions of dollars, and if reasons 1. to 3., cause slow adoption, and economic difficulties, the whole project will be a dead loss, because the taxpayers will protest if their taxes go up to fund something they cannot use. This subsidy will need to go at least 10 years.
This is an extremely risky gamble, and only an environmental crazy or a political fool would make a gamble like this.
6. Nick Knight | 12.04.08
This from a State that does not even have a trolley serving the main tourist areas and airport. How about the basics first, so you do not have to get in the car in the first place.
7. Arthur E. Lemay | 12.05.08
Did anyone in Hawaii know that electric car makers have sought ways to improve battery performance for 100 years and it still takes hours to recharge them? And their range is extremely limited. When the first driver pulls in to recharge and finds it will take seven hours he will not be pleased.
So, if the wind does not blow the power will not be there to charge the cars anyway. And, since the power produced by a windmill is tiny compared to a traditional power plant — where will all these be installed?
Does anyone realize that electric cars don’t have air conditioners because they consume too much power.
The state of Hawaii is not being very smart. They should permit nuclear power. That works, windmills and solar panels are supplements to the power grid, not the mainstream power source.
8. Kimo | 12.05.08
On the surface, it looks like a super green move. On the other hand, prices for electricity per kwh in Hawaii are among the highest in the nation. Electric bills in Hawaii have risen by more than 40% over the past two years yet gasoline prices nationwide are at now at 2006 levels.
9. 123andy | 12.05.08
Hawaii, Israel are two excellent opportunities for introducing and testing all electric vehicles. Since cars don’t move between the islands (or out of Israel) one could just start with islands that have most limited mobility, such as Lanai, Molokai then with experience extend to others. It is a great opportunity to start on battery performance learning curve and also find out abut real lifetimes. The San Francisco Bay Area deal I think is a publicity stunt and not likely to have significant penetration. Just one opinion, the test is in the tasting.
10. Jeremy Keith Hammond | 12.05.08
I think some important points have been missed by the commenters here. First: The windmills aren’t the only sources of energy Hawaii is going for, they’re going to include solar, geothermal, and tidal/wave power - the last two of which are very reliable - not to mention you have batteries to save the excess electricity from the windmills and solar panels - you CAN get more power during day light than you will need the entire 24 hours.
You also don’t have to spend 7 hours STRAIGHT to charge your car! In many places that have adopted electric charging stations - you often find them in parking lots. So - when you do your grocery shopping you can charge your car. Keep it plugged in while you’re at work. Plug it in when you sleep. It’s not that hard and it’s a small price to pay to release yourself from the clutches of oil.
Kimo illustrates a point that sounds like a conflict with alternative energy but is actually a boon. Those rising electric prices are prices for oil - the major source of Hawaiian electricity. With oil-electricity going up in price - the price of alternatives is relatively smaller and more attractive.
Arthur E. Lemay’s #4 problem is unknowingly solved by Nick Knight’s excellent point. This would be a great opportunity for the state to invest in electric “trolleys” or buses and trains. You can build up two interdependent infrastructures at the same time.
Sometimes you have to run before you can walk. Trans-continental railways and our incredibly complex highway system were drastic and controversial infrastructure changes that strongly benefited us (well, arguably the highway system got us in to this mess but..) we still can’t deny the level of prosperity gained from it and we can keep it up if we move on to new alternatives.
Finally, nuclear power is not a solution - it’s merely replacing one problem with another (probably even worse). We have no viable way to handle nuclear waste. We just don’t. Haven’t we raped our environment enough?
11. Caponer | 12.05.08
Atomic (nuclear) power generation is still the answer if one does not generate power by burning fossil fuels. Any other form of generation: wind, solar, etc. can only be intermittant and limited in its usefulness.
12. milton | 12.05.08
Why electric cars? For the price of one electric car you can have 20 electric bicycles. Less congestion, better parking,much greener. Electric three wheelers are also an option for those with balance problems. Either way they will carry groceries and the like. Cheaper for a family of four to have four bikes than one car. At the least it would supplant a ’second ‘ car. An Australian firm is licensing a Japanese and an American company to start building their batteries this next summer. These batteries are lead acid with a capacitor built in. They charge in minutes and hold 50% more power. So either electric cars or bicycles will become greatly more practical from then on. These batteries should cut the battery cost of electric vehicles by 70% as compared to lithium or nickel hydride batteries. There around 30 million electric bikes in china. With the new batteries it should be easy to get 30-40 miles per charge on a bike.
13. lks | 12.05.08
Good point about electric bicycles and tricycles. We bought a quadcycle this summer. It has an electric motor to assist with pedaling. There are several brands available. The one we bought is a Rhoades car (www.rhoadescar.com) and we are quite pleased with it. Because its top speed with power assist is 18 mph, it is regulated as a bicycle instead of a car.
14. Kimo | 12.07.08
Who wouldn’t want more quiet, zero emission vehicles on the road? I’m afraid Mr. Hammond does not quite get the point. The point is sticky pricing makes electric cars even more expensive than gas-powered vehicles over time. As he noted, electricity in Hawaii is mainly generated by oil burning power plants. Electric prices in Hawaii track crude oil prices upwards quickly but fall slowly. As Mr. Hammond mentions, this may be a boon for someone but it sure isn’t a boon for those who pay for electricity. Someone has to pick up the tab. If electricity prices in Hawaii tracked gasoline prices or the spot price of crude on a 1-to-1 basis then this would be moot. Gasoline prices, a commodity, has returned to 2006 levels. When will the price of electricity in Hawaii, a commodity, return to 2006 levels?
15. nommo | 12.08.08
It is better to dream than to encourage recurring nightmares Arthur.
1) Consumers love electric cars. They just haven’t been given the chance to buy one yet.
2) Powering the cars with windmill power is truly great idea. The batteries provide a buffer. Pumped storage is also a good buffer for when the wind is not blowing. It is windy a lot in Hawaii right? And anyway - why the obsession with wind? You a NIMBY? Geothermal is the big constant that the ‘anti-green’ lobby like to overlook.
3) See point 2. They already burn petrol ya crazy fool! Why not start burning less when they can.
4) The infrastructure is already in place - everyone has a power outlet (unless they are off-grid - in which case they are already using wind/sun/etc) And on the topic of subsidies - remind me how much the US car industry is being subsidised to carry on burning foreign oil..? Boy - you have your axe out dontcha? Why not burn money on things that will burn less money (and trees, and oil, coal, gas while we are at it) in the future..?
Finally - your point about nuclear - nuclear should be a last resort for any country - it is not cheap, it is not safe, and it is not clean. It provides no independence, it is not renewable - it requires many billions in subsidies.
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1. ZAP Xebra | 12.04.08
I so agree that “Hawai‘i, with its ready access to renewable energy resources like solar, wind, wave and geothermal, is the ideal location” for EVs and EV networks. This is the way to make driving really clean, green and sustainable.