4 Dec 2008

Hawaii is to bring in thousands of electric cars by 2012

4:10 pm on 4 December 2008

There's a plan for electric cars to become the main mode of transport in Hawai'i by 2012.

At the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Governor of Hawaii and the California based company Better Place, the cost has been estimated at 1 billion US dollars.

Up to 100,000 charging stations are being planned for the electric cars, and

"Hawaiian Electric Company's Peter Rosegg, who attended yesterday's launch, says it's the way to go. The reaction has been very very positive since people are very enthusiastic about it. Of course they want to see the cars, they want to see what the system is going to look like. Driving an electric car is really no different except its a little quieter than driving a combustion engine vehicle. The difference is you're not going to pay high prices for gas or have an ugly tail pipe spitting fumes into the environment."

Peter Rosegg says the move will be a huge step forward for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative which provides that 70-percent of power comes from clean energy sources by 2030.