Hawaii car plan a big jolt to petrol engines

Australian
Friday 5/12/2008 Page: 9

HAWAII is to become the first US state to create 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.

Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle said the program would help the state's six large islands meet the goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels by 70 per cent by 2038. 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 $US7 billion ($10.8 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.

Most of the infrastructure will be provided and funded by Better Place, a Silicon Valley company. It will build the charging stations and provide charged batteries. The electricity is expected to come from renewable sources, such as wind energy. All of this will require a significant investment, because Hawaii has limited wind energy and there are no transmission lines to carry electricity between the islands.

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." Australia, Denmark, Israel and other parts of the US also plan to host the recharging stations.