Hawaii enacts legislation on electric cars, alternative energy
By Rob Perez
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i will become one of only a few states that require large parking lots to reserve spaces for electric cars and to provide recharging capacity if a bill passed by the Legislature is signed into law.
The measure would take Hawai'i one step closer to developing a viable electric-vehicle market, supporters say.
"We're definitely on the cutting edge on this," said Robert Harris, director of the Hawai'i chapter of the Sierra Club.
The bill was among a handful of adopted measures that environmentalists applauded yesterday as the Legislature wrapped up its session.
A key one would increase the tax on a barrel of oil by $1 to help the state explore alternative energy and protect local agriculture.
Among other legislation cited were bills to:
The electric-vehicle bill would require that any parking lot with at least 100 public stalls be required to set aside 1 percent of the total spaces for electric cars by Dec. 31, 2011. The requirement would increase to 2 percent when at least 5,000 electric vehicles are registered in the state.
The bill also mandates that at least one recharging mechanism be made available in the parking lot.
California and Oregon are among the other states that have enacted similar legislation, according to Harris and Jeff Mikulina of Blue Planet Foundation.
The measure is seen as one way to help electric vehicles become more acceptable to Hawai'i consumers as the cars become more available commercially and the services to support them begin to take hold.
"We think it's a great step forward for Hawai'i," said Pete Cooper, spokesman for Better Place Hawaii, which is seeking to create a $1 billion statewide charging network for such cars.
The Legislature gave Better Place's initiative a boost this week when it approved a bill authorizing the issuance of up to $45 million in special-purpose revenue bonds for the company's planned network.
Better Place recently signed an agreement with Hawaiian Electric Co. to make such service possible as early as 2011, and the initiative has the backing of Gov. Linda Lingle. The company told legislators it wants to develop a system to support more than 10,000 electric vehicles in Hawai'i by 2014.
The bills now go to Lingle for her review.
