Driving electric
Hawaii is good place for electric vehicles, with its year-round sunshine, high gasoline prices, and limited driving distance. As of July 2017, there were 6,084 electric vehicles and 24,378 passenger hybrid vehicles registered statewide, according to the “Monthly Energy Trend Highlights,” July 2017. That’s 2.88% of the 1,056,103 registered passenger vehicles in the state – and growing.
The electric car I drive reflects who I am – or rather, who I want to be. I try to be environmentally conscious, and reducing, recycling, and reusing are slowly becoming second-nature. I try to be positive, driving with aloha to reduce the stress of traffic. I try to be plan ahead and be prepared – though this hasn’t worked out as well, as just the other week I forgot to charge the car and drove around on my lunch break, desperately looking for an open charging station.
For those of you who are thinking about an electric vehicle, and those of you who already drive one, this week, September 9-17, 2017, is National Drive Electric Week – a nationwide celebration of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. Plug-in vehicles are better for the environment, more affordable than ever, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil – and the drive is surprisingly peppy.
Check out one of these upcoming three National Drive Electric Events in Hawaii:
* Hilo, Hawaii Island. On Saturday, September 16, 9 am to noon at the Home Depot, to meet other EV owners and families.
* Honolulu, Oahu. On Sunday, September 17, 9 am to noon at Kapiolani Community College, with specified staging locations for the Electric Island Drive and an Electric Vehicle Fair.
* Lihue, Kauai. On Saturday, September 16, 9 am to 1 pm at KCC Kauai Community College, with the opportunity to test-drive electric vehicles.
On a related note… As part of October’s National Energy Action Month, mark your calendars for the Clean Energy Fair on Saturday, October 7 at Kahala Mall in Honolulu, 10 am to 3 pm, with interactive displays, live entertainment, keiki games, and a show by Mad Science of Hawaii at 10:15 am.
Do you drive an electric car? If yes, what made you go electric? If not, what holds you back? What does your car say about you?
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Better Hawaii 
September 12, 2017 at 5:48 am
The huge problem I see with electrics are not the vehicles themselves but rather the changing of government thinking where they are recoiling from the loss of revenue from gasoline taxes and are now thinking about charging users a tax for miles driven! That makes me angry!!!!!
September 12, 2017 at 6:57 pm
Hi admin, You’re right, government seems to find a way to tax everything. In this case, they need to balance paying for roads and encouraging electric vehicle use. There’s a tipping point somewhere. Thank you for reading Better Hawaii! aloha, Rachelle