Electric car network coming to Hawaii next

[60TrenchesGone]

The next "Better Place" in United States is Hawaii.

Remember a little over a week ago when Gavin Newsom and California officials joined Bay Area company Better Place in building an electric vehicle network to cover the state... Well, yesterday they announced that Better Place is partnering up with Hawaii yesterday to implement a network of 50-100,000 public charging stations around the islands between now and 2012. The charging stations would get power mostly from renewable energy sources in the island chain. I actually think of all places to adopt the technology, Hawaii makes the most sense. The amount of money Hawaii pays for oil, it cost $3 a gallon in Hawaii ( and you call this place paradise) is quite expensive. To add on, many Hawaiians tend do drive less than 100 miles, thus they don't need to recharge their cars that frequently.

I'm sure many Hawaiians are excited about the partnership. I couldn't think of why they wouldn't be. Hawaii is such a beautiful place and they are always the first in supporting environmental issues.

From the New York Times:

"Mr. Agassi has argued that even if oil prices continued to decline, his electric recharging network — which ideally would use renewable energy sources like solar and wind — could provide competitively priced energy for a new class of vehicles.

He supposes that his network idea will be appropriate first for “island” economies that typically have significantly higher energy costs, and then will become more cost-competitive as it is scaled up.

“We always knew Hawaii would be the perfect model,” he said in a telephone interview. “The typical driving plan is low and leisurely, and people are smiling.”

Hawaii is a relatively small market with high energy costs. The state has about 1.2 million cars and replaces 70,000 to 120,000 vehicles annually."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/technology/start-ups/03hawaii.html?ex=1386046800&en=e7f0afc99487a55a&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg

[endless october]

1. i'm excited people are thinking electric again.

looks to have real potential. we have to SERIOUSLY upgrade capacity in preparation, though. we need an alphabet-type program to build some more electricity-producing infrastructure. i'd like to see wind, solar, and nuclear.

[gristy]

2. Surely this is false

"The charging stations would get power mostly from renewable energy sources in the island chain."

Since Better Place is a for-profit corporation, it stands to reason that they will get their electric power from the cheapest source available. It also stands to reason that they will get their electric power from the grid, which means that Better Place would have no direct say in where their power comes from.