Bankruptcy unplugs cars from chargers

The transition of Hawaii’s largest electric vehicle charging network to new ownership has hit a bump in the road, with several hundred of the company’s new customers unable to access its network of charging stations.

Tel Aviv-based Better Place in March sold its Hawaii operations to OpConnect as part of corporate restructuring by financially troubled Better Place. Better Place filed for bankruptcy in May.

About 800 customers who had Better Place or OpConnect accounts before the bankruptcy filing were able to continue using Better Place swipe cards — or fobs — to use the company’s 77 EV chargers around the state. But about 100 to 200 EV drivers who signed up with OpConnect after the bankruptcy filing were left in limbo because the company ran out of Better Place swipe cards and was not able to get any new ones, according to company officials.

OpConnect plans to exchange all the Better Place charging stations with its own units that will not require a swipe card.

"During this time of transition we have received an unexpectedly large number of new members to our network, which has caused us to run out of fobs to access Better Place charging stations," according to the email.

"Unfortunately due to the bankruptcy and liquidation of Better Place we are unable to secure more fobs," the email read.

OpConnect tried several different ways to solve the problem, including making its own swipe cards and working with the vendor that had supplied the original ones to Better Place, said Brian Goldstein, vice president of business development at OpConnect.

Although OpConnect is continuing its efforts to get more fobs, the company has shifted its focus to getting the new charging stations installed. "Our goal is to get these swapped out as quickly as possible. We’ll start in the next few weeks," Goldstein said.

Access to Better Place charging stations has been free since the company began installing the units in 2011. However, once the units are replaced with OpConnect chargers, property owners will decide whether to charge for the service, Goldstein said.

OpConnect chargers will feature a 15-inch color touch screen that will accept a variety of payment methods, including credit and debit cards. Users can also opt to sign up for an OpConnect account that can be accessed through an email address or a cellphone.

The glitch with the Better Place swipe cards is likely having a bigger impact on Maui where there are fewer charging stations than on Oahu, said Anne Ku, director of the Maui Electric Vehicle Alliance. There are charging stations at 20 locations on Maui compared with 85 locations on Oahu, according to a list on the state Department of Business and Economic Development website.

Ku said she received a call from a Wailuku man who bought a Nissan Leaf on July 18 and wanted to drive to a restaurant in Lahaina about 30 miles away. "There is a Better Place charger at that shopping center, but he wouldn’t have been able to use it. He was disappointed," Ku said.

Maui has outperformed Oahu in growth of EV sales despite its relatively fewer charging stations. There were 235 electric vehicles registered on Maui as of June, an increase of 104 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to data compiled by the state. On Oahu, there were 1,178 EVs registered in June, up 81 percent from June 2012. Statewide, there were 1,551 EVs registered in June, up 83 percent from a year earlier.

Although a state program providing a rebate of up to $4,500 toward the purchase of an EV ended last year, buyers can still take advantage of a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying an EV. There are also manufacturer incentives, such as Nissan’s vehicle purchase program that offers University of Hawaii employees a discount of up to $1,300 on the upfront cost for leasing a Leaf, according to Ku.

Hawaii leads the nation in the number of public EV charging stations with one station for every 10,791 residents, according to Star-Advertiser research. However, some EV owners say the growth of public charging stations hasn’t kept pace with the increase in EVs on the road.

"The competition for charging stations has become fierce," said Karin Last of Hawaii Kai. "I’ve been seeing a heckuva lot more EVs out there."

Last said she mostly charges her Nissan Leaf at home, but likes to top off the battery at one of the free Volta Industries charging stations at several shopping malls on Oahu.

"I usually have to circle around when I’m trying to get one of the Volta spots at Kahala Mall. And there’s always someone waiting behind me when I leave."

A state law that went into effect July 1, 2012, called for public parking areas to have at least one charging station for every 100 parking stalls. However, there was no enforcement mechanism included in the law, and not all owners of public parking areas have complied.

For its part, Volta has plans to add another 10 charging stations on Oahu in the next month or so, said Arden Penton, the company’s marketing director. Locations include Ward Centers and Pearlridge, where Volta will double the number of charges to four from two due to strong customer response, Penton said.