The next car you buy could be powered by electricity.

Electric vehicles are expected to be available in Hawai'i's auto showrooms in 2011, and Palo Alto, Calif.-based company Better Place is planning to build a vast network of charging stations on four islands to keep them rolling.

The system would tap into the state's growing renewable energy industry and could help Hawai'i break its $7 billion-a-year addiction to fossil fuels, said Pete Cooper, in charge of global development for Better Place.

"We're really a catalyst to accelerate the move to electric vehicles and the shift away from fossil-fuel energy," he said.

The company is developing an electric recharge grid for Israel, where it will install 500,000 charging stations and 150 battery-exchange depots for cars made by Renault. The first prototypes are expected to hit the road this winter.

Officials in Denmark have agreed to a similar program.

Hawai'i is an ideal market for electric vehicles because of its geographical containment and the relatively short distances traveled by most motorists, Cooper said. Other pluses are the state's vast potential for renewable energy, such as wind, solar, ocean, geothermal and biofuels, and the determination of local leaders to reduce Hawai'i's dependence on imported oil.

In January, Gov. Linda Lingle signed a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy for the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative that aims to boost renewable energy use to meet 70 percent of the state's energy demands by 2030.

Last month, the state announced it had received $1.7 million in grants to modernize Hawai'i's electric grids to accommodate an influx of renewable energy, with an eye toward electric cars.

LIKE CELL-PHONE SERVICE

Better Place's subscriber-based model borrows from the mobile-phone industry. The company does not manufacture or sell electric vehicles; that will be done by traditional automakers and car dealers.

Car owners would sign up with Better Place for a monthly plan providing recharge and battery exchange services for unlimited miles or other options such as pay-as-you-go.

Charging spots will be available in parking garages, shopping malls and street curbs, and at the homes of drivers so that they can keep their batteries topped off. The charging units themselves are about the size of a standard parking meter.

A fully charged vehicle will have a range of more than 100 miles. To extend travel beyond that distance, drivers will be able to pull into one of Better Place's fully automated battery exchange stations. While the driver remains in the car, the depleted battery will be removed and a fresh replacement installed in under three minutes.

Cooper compares the experience to a drive-through car wash.

Since most Hawai'i motorists drive short distances, the need to visit a battery exchange station will be infrequent, he said.

An onboard computer will tell drivers if there is ample charge to reach their destination and where the nearest charging and exchange points are.

BIG-BATTERY SOLUTION

The Better Place system addresses a major drawback of electric cars: their heavy and costly batteries. Cooper said the lithium-ion batteries in the new electric car models weigh about 500 pounds and cost $11,000.

Better Place would own the batteries in subscribers' vehicles, substantially reducing the purchase price of the car, and the company's automated charging and exchange systems would relieve owners of the need to handle them.

Nissan, which is associated with Renault, BMW, Audi, Mitsubishi and Subaru, is developing electric cars that will be available in two to three years at a list price comparable to gasoline-powered vehicles.

Cooper said the latest models are much more than tricked-out golf carts. They offer the same styling, size, acceleration and safety features that car buyers seek in mid-sized sedans and can reach speeds of up to 100 mph. A wider selection of models will be available when the market expands.

At first glance, it might appear that Better Place is simply shifting the fuel burden from internal-combustion engine cars to the power plants that will have to meet the additional demand for electricity to charge the batteries in the new vehicles. But Cooper said the company is dedicated to buying "green" energy from renewable sources and will pay a premium for it.

That commitment will create additional incentive for developers of the biofuel plants, wind farms, solar-powered systems and other renewable energy generators that Lingle and other state and county leaders want to encourage.

Better Place has been meeting with government, utility and business officials since early this year to gain support for its plans and for renewable energy policies.

Cooper said the company, which has more than $200 million in capital, does not need government funding or approval to proceed, but will not move forward unless it is confident "green" electricity sources will be available.

He said utilities will benefit from the arrangement by being able to sell surplus power available during evening off-peak times when electric car owners are charging up.

STORING POWER

The car batteries also would serve as storage units for renewable energy sources that aren't always able to provide steady and continuous power. And the times when they are generating kilowatts don't always coincide with peak demand, so the energy is wasted.

Cooper said the Better Place grid can act as an ancillary storage system, with excess power offloaded to the grid when demand is low and accessed quickly during peak hours.

Each fully charged battery can provide 25 kilowatt hours of electricity. If there are 40,000 electric cars on the road, that's 1 million kilowatt hours of storage.

Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Darren Pai said the utility did not want to comment on Better Place's plans but does support "green" transportation as one way to reduce the state's dependence on fossil fuels.

"We are very excited about the prospects of vehicles that use electricity. Not only would they be good for Hawai'i, but Hawai'i is a great place for them. Our relatively short driving distances make these vehicles a practical means of getting around," Pai said. "Vehicles using electricity may be recharged overnight when there is unused generating capacity on the electric system."

Theodore Peck, Energy Planning & Policy Branch manager for the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said the state is eager to assist with the project and intends to operate its own fleet of electric cars to show the way for consumers.

Peck said such plans will help loosen imported oil's stranglehold on Hawai'i, which led to the shutdown of Aloha Airlines and threatens other businesses. "The global petroleum market has the ability to kill economies. We want to get to sustainability in our energy sector," he said.

Hawai'i pays oil producers up to $7 billion annually, or more than 10 percent of the state's $62.5 billion gross domestic product, the highest share in the nation.

"The tremendous silver lining to this is that the money we're currently spending on oil is going to help us financially in changing out our infrastructure. The $6 billion to $7 billion we export each year could be folded back into our local economy. It would be a huge influx of investment," Peck said.

In the face of wallet-busting gas prices, consumers are rethinking their auto choices and may be more open to the idea of electric cars, he said.

"This isn't like the (gas crunch of the) '70s when we all went back to normal. People have a sense that this isn't going away," Peck said.

Cooper did not provide figures on the cost savings of an electric car versus a gasoline-powered vehicle but said the total cost of ownership, including purchase price, maintenance and driving will be "substantially less."

Better Place is counting on a rapid rollout of electric vehicles and its grid infrastructure to win acceptance among consumers.

CHALLENGES FORESEEN

Cooper was reticent to reveal a timetable and other details of the company's plans for Hawai'i, saying an announcement would be made before the end of the year.

Stan Masamitsu of the Tony Hawai'i Automotive Group, which sells Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and Hyundai vehicles, called Better Place's plans "interesting."

"There are a lot of things that need to fall in place," he said, such as on the manufacturing end and whether electric vehicles will meet government standards.

"The idea of reducing our dependency on fossil fuels is very, very exciting, but there is a big gap from here to there," Masamitsu said.

Although car dealers "don't have a preference on what cars run on," Masamitsu said he anticipates some initial resistance from consumers.

"There is still a lot of emotion applied to vehicles as a reflection of who you are," he said.

Electric car buyers also will need reassurances "they won't be stranded on the side of the road."

In addition to changing public perceptions about electric cars, Cooper said other challenges include getting state lawmakers to accept the higher renewable energy goals put forth in the Hawai'i Clean Energy Initiative, and consider tax breaks and other incentives to make electric vehicles more appealing to consumers.

Modernizing the utility grid to support the influx of renewable energy is another concern, along with regulatory approval of "smart" electric meters that can determine when power usage takes place during the day so that lower rates are charged during off-peak hours.