More electric car chargers needed to meet demand

HONOLULU (KHON2) — If you feel like you are seeing more electric cars out on the road, it’s because you probably are. 

In June, the number of electric cars registered in the state was 26,001, a jump of 30.6% from June of last year. The Autosource Hawaii owner said buyers are looking to save up on gas, and a price cut from a major electric vehicle manufacturer is helping boost the public’s interest.

“There’s no doubt that the trend is definitely going up on EVs,” Braden said. “Just at the beginning of the year Tesla dropped their prices 25% and that created this flurry basically at that time a lot of people were selling their previous two-year-old models and just getting new ones because of the reduction.”

But the number of those buying electric cars is possibly outpacing the number of EV chargers available. 

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure state plan said a minimum of 2,200 public charging ports are needed to meet charging demand by 2045. The state currently has more than 800.

The Department of Transportation is working on installing 15 more charging stations around the state by the end of the year. 

Hawaii State Sen. Chris Lee said a working group is now trying to determine where else can more EV charging stations be installed. Residential developments along with shopping centers are on top of the list. 

“Right now, a lot of the federal money coming in is focused on our main corridor; so along H-1 for example, where you are going to have a lot more chargers going in in the near future,” Lee said.

“If you live in an apartment complex for example where there’s not a charger that’s readily available you’ve got to think carefully about where you are going to charge in the surrounding area,” Lee further explained. “So that’s why we are partnering with a lot of large complexes to figure out can we put in charging capacity.”

For now, state law requires at least one EV charger for parking lots with at least 100 public stalls, but that requirement could increase in the future. 

Lee said, “But now with the proliferation of EVs we know that’s way too little so that’s something to revisit, that’s something to look at because we are way behind many other cities.”

The HDOT has a survey asking for the public’s input on where to install electric vehicle chargers.