Electric cars put Hawaii on the road to independence

[defendandprotect]

December 4, 2008

Electric cars put Hawaii on the road to independence Chris Ayres in Los Angeles

Hawaii is to become the first US state to create a transport infrastructure that will allow cars to run almost entirely on electricity.

The plan involves building up to 100,000 charging stations in car parks and streets by 2012 and importing electric vehicles manufactured by a joint venture between Nissan and Renault.

Motorists who buy the cars will be able to purchase mileage plans — including recharging services and battery swaps — or use the charging stations on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Linda Lingle, the Governor of Hawaii, said that the programme would help the six large islands in the state to meet the goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels by 70 per cent within the next 30 years.

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About 1.3 million people live in Hawaii, most of them in Honolulu. The islands import 90 per cent of their oil from countries such as Saudi Arabia, an arrangement that costs an estimated $7 billion (£4.7 billion) a year.

“Today is a part of the execution of our energy independence , and our getting off the addiction to oil,” Ms Lingle said.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5282411.ece

[XOKCowboy]

1. Way freakin' cool!

It's the perfect place to implement this plan. There are very few roads in all and even the Big Island is easy to drive around in a day. The combined benefits of not having to import oil and the lack of pollution seems to make this a no brainer.

[MarjorieG]

2. Still amazes me that GM produced electric cars in the 90s and then killed it.

They would have been the leader and profitable.

[TlalocW]

3. Now they can probably build some power generators

Out in the ocean that produces electricity from the waves/currents like I believe Ireland has. Far enough out they won't be an eyesore, and they can probably produce all their electrical needs from it.

TlalocW

[KamaAina]

5. This might also revive the plans for the wind farm on Moloka'i

that many people are pushing. It would help take the place of the foreign-owned ranch that abruptly shut down earlier this year, taking most of the island's remaining jobs with it, after they didn't get the rezoning they wanted to build a bunch of resort McMansions in a very remote location that would most likely be sitting there empty now anyway. :eyes:

[defendandprotect]

4. Hawaii also made these other cool points ....

Shai Agassi, the founder and chief executive of Better Place, said electric cars would cost the same as petrol vehicles but that over time they would become cheaper because they used half as many parts as cars with internal combustion engines.

He added that Hawaii was an ideal place to show off the technology because the state hosts more than five million tourists every year. “If we can get them into electric cars when they rent we do two great things,” he said. “One, we avoid emissions, and two, we use the opportunity to educate them, to teach them in Hawaii how it needs to be done in the rest of the world.”

Other parts of the US, including the San Francisco bay area, and Israel, Denmark and Australia, plan to host Better Place recharging stations.

[KamaAina]

6. A couple of concerns

Lingle is an (R), so the possibility exists this could all be a "greenwash". In Australia, Better Place is working with Macquarie. Sound familiar? Macquarie has either bought, or is trying to buy, a toll road near you (often under the guise of "a Spanish-Australian consortium"). Imagine if they owned the highway and the service stations along it... :scared:

Meanwhile, Better Place's press contact is none other than Hill and Knowlton. You remember them. They're the ones who brought you the horrible, tragic (and completely fabricated) suffering of the Kuwaiti incubator babies during the run-up to the first Bush oil war. :eyes: