Imagine it all quiet on the Hawai'i front: A road of cars, gently whirring their way around the Islands. You can hear the soft breeze fluttering the palm fronds.

That's the future envisioned by Sterling Higashi, co-owner of 'Aiea-based Electric Vehicle Technologies — a future he hopes is just a handful of years away, "if everybody pushes as hard as they are now."

With the news last month that startup company Better Place is considering a plan to build a vast network of charging stations here by 2011, a decision its representative says might be made by the end of the year, it looks as if Higashi's dream could become a reality. But only if manufacturers are ready to jump in with a consumer-priced, durable and safe electric car.

Experts here, however, say that may not be easy to do.

Until then, drivers are plugging along in other ways.

CUTE, BUT DIFFERENT

The electric car of tomorrow is a whole different animal from the cute little golf-cart-style Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV, for short) that you see Pam Aqui tooling around Kailua in.

Still, she's thrilled to be ahead of the curve.

"What we really need is people movers that don't take up space, don't pollute," said Aqui, who works at St. John Vianney parish part-time and makes rosaries.

She's happy she made the leap to a second car that plugs in, not gasses up.

"It's a cute, little, happy car," she said. "At first I was a little embarrassed, then I got over it. People come out and want to know where you got it. I take 'em for spins around the parking lot."

Susan Lewis of East Honolulu remembers when her sons, one now in college and the other at Waldorf School, found it embarrassing when she showed up in her NEV to pick them up from school. Now, however, "high school kids beg me to drive it," she said.

Lewis has made a lot of friends in that car: "I come out of the grocery store, and see someone sitting in it," she said with a laugh.

Heading home just the other day, Lewis discovered how to handle NEV trouble, the first in two years of ownership.

"The car slows down, goes into turtle mode, which is really disconcerting," said Lewis, a Waldorf school staffer who works in the development office. "I pulled over, saw this elderly gentleman in the yard (and asked to charge up in his outlet). As I waited the half hour, we had a wonderful conversation. He was very interesting."

Passing service stations is fun, too.

When her eldest was driving a gas guzzler, there were trips to the gas station every four days. Now, with the electric car her primary vehicle, it's a different story. "When he went to college, I did not fill up the tank till the first part of October," Lewis said. "That was a real eye opener."

Lewis paid a friend $8,000 for the NEV, which takes 5 kilowatts to charge "if it's completely dead." She hasn't noticed much change in her electric bill.

ANTICIPATING CHANGE

Aqui and Lewis, whose husband is a meteorologist at the University of Hawai'i, both dream of going off the grid: Lewis' husband is considering wind turbine to generate electricity; Aqui wants to use photovoltaics.

Lewis imagines a more-perfect electric car, with added safety features, a greater range and better protection from the elements.

"On a really hot day, your hair takes a little bit of a beating," she admitted, since there's no windows or air-conditioning.

It can also be a little unpleasant being stuck behind a garbage truck. But these things "to me, are a very small price to pay," she said.

And who doesn't love the quiet?

"I was joking about revving my engine and my son said, 'What's that going to sound like? A blow dryer?' "

NEXT GENERATION AHEAD

The next phase of electric cars may tackle some perceived limitations of today's electric cars: speed, comfort, range.

For Bor Yann Liaw, that's the essential question: When will manufacturers be able to produce electric cars comparable to gas ones?

"Right now, the consensus in the industry is that the hybrid is in favor," said Liaw, a UH professor of mechanical engineering, who drives a gas car but has looked into obtaining a Prius.

"I think today, battery technology is getting there, but there are quite a few issues. Safety — that's not completely resolved. A battery management system ... is still not ready yet."

According to Liaw, electric-car batteries just aren't ready to take on highway-style, safe driving without costing a mint — like the sporty, high-performance Tesla Motors electric cars, which go for about $100,000.

But new models continue to appear. An electric MINI-Cooper, known as the MINI-E Cooper, was unveiled recently with a range of 100 miles and highway drivability. While just 500 are going to be available in California, watchers still say it bodes well for the electric car's future.

The privately funded Better Place made headlines last month when it unveiled its proposal for an Island grid that would charge up electric cars for a fee. Better Place representative Pete Cooper calls hybrids "a good stepping stone." But his goal is to leapfrog over hybrids and accelerate the move to electric cars.

While Better Place plans to use batteries incorporating today's technology, Cooper expects electric car batteries to continue their evolution to higher performance and lower costs.

"It's slow, incremental improvement," said Cooper, noting that there are new electric vehicles in the pipeline from Renault and Nissan.

The Neighborhood Electric Vehicles of today would also be able to tap into the "plug-in" stations proposed by Better Place, Cooper notes, so owners of NEVs could also benefit from the company's grand plans.