DOT plans to install electric vehicle charging stations

HONOLULU (KHON2) — On Monday, the Department of Transportation announced it will be moving forward with its plan to install 11 electric vehicle charging stations throughout Hawaii.

Ed Sniffen, deputy director of highways for the DOT, said the department is looking at putting the “first charging station in for these 11 before the end of this year.”

DOT said each station will have four charging ports, will be running 24/7 and will be within 50 miles of each other.

“Ideally, these locations are where folks are going to travel to run errands or to conduct business or something right, they can go do something and use their time productively while they’re in their cars charging,” said Special Projects Manager for the DOT Highways Division Dre Kalili.

The manufacturers DOT spoke to said a 150-kilowatt port will charge an electric vehicle to a full charge in about 20 to 30 minutes.

These charging stations will not be free but the city said it will be affordable.

“We’re not trying to make money on this. That’s not our goal. We’re trying to make sure that we can push more electrification into the system,” said Sniffen.

Some electric car users think this plan will be good for Hawaii and the community.

“I believe if we get more charging stations, more people are going to just move to electric cars,” said Juliette Schroeder, an electric car owner. “But because there’s not enough, I feel like that’s why a lot of people don’t want to get electric cars.”

Lamekh Seput was waiting in line to charge his vehicle and said a lot of times the charging stations are down.

When the charging stations are down “it just takes a little longer so you kind of plan your day, and they kind of get messed up because you know the charging stations down,” said Seput.

The DOT said they know 11 stations will not take away the worry of not having enough charging stations and the department will evaluate where more charging stations are needed after it’s all installed.