LIHUE — A cruise through Waimea Canyon can be stressful for some drivers, but those sporting electric vehicles have an added risk to the twists and turns: they might run out of power.
“As a founding member of the local EV club, Kauai EV, I drive a 2015 Nissan Leaf and cannot get to Kokee in my car,” said Sonja Kass. “About 200 other drivers of older electric vehicles (EVs) on Kauai have the same problem.”
The battery of most electric cars produced before 2016 and many more made in 2016 and 2017 can’t hold enough charge to get from the public chargers in Puhi to the Kokee meadow and back, she says.
But a charging station set to open in the parking lot of the West Kauai Visitor and Technology Center in late 2018 or early 2019 could be a game changer for locals and tourists looking to take an EV to the canyon.
The station will service two EVs at a time, and was recently approved in the county budget with an estimated $19,835 cost that’s expected to cover chargers, installation, signs, network service, and funds to offset the cost of electricity during startup.
Kauai Economic Development Board offered to manage the project. It’s not going to be the first EV charging station that private organizations, businesses and other organizations have established.
“Waimea Baptist Church very recently installed a single charger right across the street from this location (West Kauai Tech Center),” said Ben Sullivan, energy and sustainability coordinator for Kauai County. “We are fortunate that private organizations such as the church, as well as many other businesses and organizations around the island, have installed chargers to date.”
Kauai EV owner David Lee, who bought his vehicle in August 2016, said adding a handful of public charging stations is nice, but he thinks the focus should be on at-home charging.
“Statistics show the bulk of EV charging is done at home for convenience and cost,” Lee said. “The range of the newer EV’s on a full charge is over 150 miles. Kauai is a small island. Driving from Kalaheo to Kapaa is only 22 miles so most trips by locals are probably within the range of an EV.”
He points out advantages to having charging stations throughout the island, though, especially if they’re free charging stations.
“When stopping for an errand, if a charging station is open, EV owners will probably take advantage of it,” he said. “Why not, if they don’t charge for the electricity? If they did start charging (money) at more than the retail rate, I’d bet you’d see a lot fewer people charging.”
The focus should be spreading the word about EVs with residents instead of tourists, he said, because that’s where the impact can be made. Adding more places to charge, though, could help with the tourist EV market.
“There are tourists who may want to be green, but I would think most are here to enjoy the sites and don’t want to worry about running out of charge and finding places to charge,” Lee said.
While the goal is to provide reliable charging stations for island residents, Westside locals particularly, Sullivan said more charging stations could mean more rental EVs on the road.
“That can help the overall uptake of EVs around the island and provide longer term benefit to residents,” Sullivan said. “It is strategic in that it provides infrastructure for EVs in an area where there was previously no coverage.”
That’ll be helpful for other electric vehicle-related goals, like tripling the number of EVs in the county light vehicle fleet from five to 15, and adding charging infrastructure at the Lihue Civic Center.
“The county is also investigating ways to electrify the Kauai Bus,” Sullivan said. “Part of that effort includes bringing electric buses to Kauai for testing with the Kauai Transportation Agency.”
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Jessica Else, environment reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or jelse@thegardenisland.com.
