The state is trailing the goal it set in 2011 for electric vehicle adoption.
The Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism set a goal of having 10,000 EVs on the road through 2015. According to the state energy office, as of March there were approximately 3,400 electric vehicles in Hawaii.
The energy office presented its status on EV expansion Wednesday when it released a draft of the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative Transportation Energy Analysis. The draft outlined the state’s strategies to reach a 70 percent reduction of petroleum use for ground transportation by 2030.
Hawaii’s transportation sector accounts for two-thirds of the state’s energy consumption. In 2014, Hawaii’s transportation sector consumed the energy equivalent of roughly 863 million gallons of gasoline.
Mark Glick, administrator for the state energy office, said the state will support EV expansion as one strategy to reach the 2030 goal.
"Adoption of EVs can impact the state’s clean energy transformation by helping reduce the amount of petroleum-based transportation fuels" used, Glick said.
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.
Now the state said it is looking to reintroduce an incentive program.
"Combined with the federal tax credit, a state rebate could effectively make it cheaper to purchase an EV than a conventional vehicle," the state energy office said.
The federal government offers a tax credit of up to $7,500 to reduce the price of EVs.
"While Hawaii has one of the highest rates of EV sales without offering an incentive, the state could accelerate the rate of EV uptake with the addition of such an incentive," the state energy office said.
The energy office plan included ideas to offer rebates for multiunit dwellings and workplaces that install charging stations, or updating building codes to ensure outlets are provided for EVs.
Currently the state offers free metered parking for EV owners for up to 2 1⁄2 hours or the maximum amount of time the meter allows.
In 2012 the state 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.
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. The program was extended to run through October.
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.
