Tiffany Franco fumed as she drove around the Ward Center parking lot looking for a place to charge her electric vehicle.
"It’s always the Nissan Leafs," Franco grumbled. "I chose 10 a.m. because I thought everyone would be at work."
Franco had been searching for a place to charge her Ford C-Max Energi for almost an hour, using the state’s "EV Stations Hawaii" mobile application to locate stations on her phone. Ward Center was the fourth parking garage Franco left frustrated — too many cars looking to charge.
At the end of October, Hawaii passed the 3,000 mark for the number of registered electric vehicles (EVs), and the state, the electric utility and private companies are pushing ahead with plans to make it easier for owners to charge their cars.
Already Hawaii is well ahead of California in the number of community charging stations. There are 422 public charging stations in Hawaii, many of which are free. That means Hawaii has 1 charging station for every 7 vehicles. California has only 1 charging station for every 64 electric vehicles.
Still, Franco, who depends on public charging stations, was finding it hard to find an open slot last week. Unlike most EV owners, Franco doesn’t have a charging station at home.
As a 28-year-old renter, she didn’t want to charge her car at home and burden her roommates with a higher electric bill. So she’s left with looking for public stations or burning gas in her plug-in hybrid.
"Charge stations now are hard to find," said Franco. "It’s hard to actually get a spot."
The spread of charging stations is key to getting more drivers to switch to electric cars that can lower the state’s dependence on foreign oil.
In 2012 the Legislature passed a law requiring parking lots that have 100 parking spaces or more to designate at least one space exclusively for EVs and equip it with a charging system.
There are 12 charging station manufacturers and networks in Hawaii.
Typically EV owners charge their car batteries at home overnight. A few hours of charging will deliver as much as 100 miles on most electric cars. For an EV driver to make a trip longer than 100 miles, the car would need to be charged away from home.
Volta Industries, one charging station company in Hawaii, has 30 stations in the state with plans to add more next year. The company offers charging stations that are free for drivers to use. Volta generates revenue from advertising on the charging station.
"The majority of EV drivers will charge overnight at their home," said Arden Penton, director of media and operations at Volta. "They charge for two hours and get 50 miles, but for those who really need the charge, if the stations are full, that kind of puts them in a pickle."
Franco works at Starbucks part time and at Illest, a clothing company. Her work hours make it hard for her to commit time to search for a charging spot.
"I kind of have a rough schedule where I can’t always look for a charge station," said Franco.
Franco’s inability to charge at home makes her an outlier, said Dan Davids, board chairman of a California nonprofit that promotes the use of EVs called Plug In America. Public charging is mostly used for convenience, Davids said.
"In the big picture that is still an unusual situation, someone who is ‘garage challenged.’ An awful lot of people don’t even have garages, and yet there really might be a few instances around the country of curbside charging stations. The marketplace is still a bit slow for a need for someone who is completely ‘garage challenged.’"
The next-best option for a case similar to Franco’s is charging at work, Davids said.
Hawaii Energy, an energy efficency and conversation program controlled by the state’s Public Utilities Commission, is looking into a "charge-at-work" pilot program.
From August 2010 through May 2012, the state offered rebates of up to $4,500 for EV buyers to encourage more drivers to switch, but that program ended.
Another incentive offers free metered parking for EV owners in Hawaii for up to 21⁄2 hours or the maximum amount of time the meter allows.
Even as a young professional, Franco said that going electric was an affordable option.
Franco missed out on the $4,500 rebate when buying her Ford C-Max, but she is pleased with the savings she gets from not paying for gas and parking.
"When they first came out I was mainly looking at the price, but when you do your research you see the benefits of the vehicle in the long run," she said.
For EV owners who charge at home, Hawaiian Electric Co. offers an incentive. The utility gives a discount on rates for charging EVs during off-peak times of day.
For rooftop photovoltaic owners in Hawaii, electricity generated by their solar panels can offset the cost of the electricity they use from the grid to charge their vehicles, increasing their savings even more, according to a report released by the state Energy Office in 2013.
As a surfer who frequently drives to the North Shore, Franco worried about the "range anxiety" issue, or fear of the battery running down. That’s one reason she bought a plug-in hybrid. Her Ford C-Max has a gas-powered engine as well as the electric motor, so it can run on gasoline when no charging stations are nearby.
"I don’t want to be limited," Franco said. "The North Shore doesn’t really have a lot of charging stations. That was a major factor. If I go out in the evening or the weekend, I would be really limited."
Of the 261 stations on Oahu, there are three charging stations on the North Shore.
Volta has made note of the number of drivers interested in North Shore charging stations, said Arden.
"We actually are thinking about that," she said. "It has been a huge request."
