So what’s the point? you may ask.
According to a new federal government website, driving an electric car in Hawaii costs the equivalent of $3.69 per gallon.
Yes, that’s a 51 cents-per-gallon savings over a gasoline-powered car in Honolulu. But it’s only 51 cents. Not the $2.51 savings drivers get on average across the country.
Hawaii’s $3.69-per-gallon equivalent for electric cars is the highest price in the country, by far. No. 2 is New York with $1.80, and the national average is just $1.14.
CHARGED COSTS
Electric car equivalent cost per gallon:
| Most expensive |
| Hawaii |
$3.69 |
| New York |
$1.80 |
| Alaska |
$1.75 |
| Connecticut |
$1.70 |
| New Hampshire |
$1.63 |
| Least expensive |
| North Dakota |
83 cents |
| Washington |
84 cents |
| Idaho |
84 cents |
| Arkansas |
90 cents |
| Louisiana |
90 cents |
Source: U.S. Department of Energy
|
It kind of saps the motivation for driving an electric car.
The culprit, of course, is Hawaii’s high electrical rates.
The cost of electricity in Hawaii averaged 37 cents a kilowatt-hour in April, according to the latest data available from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The national average was 12 cents a kilowatt-hour.
Even with the growth of renewable energy in Hawaii, the state still relies on fossil fuel to provide 75 percent of its power generation. The state’s two utilities cite expensive oil as the main reason for the high cost of electricity.
So you can cut the cost of charging an electric car dramatically by installing a solar system and getting most of your power from the sun. Or you can make use of the many free charging stations at shopping centers and office parking lots.
Whatever the strategy, it doesn’t seem that the high price of electricity has dampened the popularity of electric cars in Hawaii. As of May there were 1,437 electric vehicles registered in the state, up from 808 EVs at the same time a year earlier.
The website that calculates the price of operating EVs is called eGallon (energy.gov/egallon) and is run by the U.S. Department of Energy. It was launched this month and is intended to encourage consumers to switch to electric cars.
"Consumers can see gasoline prices posted at the corner gas station but are left in the dark on the cost of fueling an electric vehicle," said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz in a news release explaining eGallon. "The eGallon will bring greater transparency to vehicle operating costs, and help drivers figure out how much they might save on fuel by choosing an electric vehicle. It also shows the low and steady price of fueling with electricity. Not only can electric vehicles save consumers on fuel and reduce our dependence on oil, they also represent an opportunity for America to lead in a growing, global manufacturing industry."
