Author: Sonja Kass

Here's an update on the 2020 legislative issues that the Tesla Hawaii Club secretary, Noreen Reimel, put together.  She is also in charge of policy at Hawaii Energy: Yesterday was the deadline for the first decking, when bills pass through the body they started in (either the House or the Senate). There are a small handful of bills that will be voted on early next week. The next step is for the bills to crossover to the other body and go through their committees (House bills now go in front of Senate committees and vice versa) EV bills that passed:HB2462 EV Income Tax Credit - Establishes an income tax credit of up to $2,500 per new EV that costs up to $50,000. Sunsets on 12/31/2028.HB2699 State Clean Transportation Goals - Establishes clean ground transportation goals for state agencies on a staggered basis until achieving a 100 per cent light-duty motor vehicle clean fleet by 12/31/2035, and for all light-duty motor vehicles in the State by...

Currently there are great rebate incentives available in California, from the state and from the various electric utilities throughout the state.   A friend sent this to me, and while it applies mainly to California I thought I’d post it since several of our members are residents in both states. You do not need to have a CA ID to purchase or lease a vehicle or to take advantage of the CA state rebate offers, so even if you live full time on Kauai it seems you can purchase a 2019 Niro EV from California and have it shipped to Kauai. In that case you will need to go to CA to take delivery of your car, and some of the rebates mentioned below might not apply. Please see the disclaimer at the end of this post. * And if you live full time on Kauai try the local Aloha Kia first, they have been very EV friendly in the past, maybe...

Thank you! I can’t even express my gratitude in words, This award means so much to me. I am so happy all my hard work did not just pay off in form of new and happier EV drivers, it is also recognized here.  But I say “My hard work” and should say “Our hard work”. It wasn’t just me, it took an island. The other Kauai EV leaders and members worked hard as well. Our utility KIUC, one of the most progressive in the US gave us a grant so I could hold free classes for new EV drivers at our community college. Mission Zero Hawaii, our local EV rental company helped out with cars and the owners pitched in when we needed them. The Radio Stations and the Garden Island News always announced our EVents, and printed great articles about EVs. Noel Morin, the Hawaii EVA chapter lead, always had good advice and ideas for us, and Blue Planet Foundation...

We are so excited! KauaiEV is going to participate in the “Lights on Rice” Christmas parade! Please join us! 2 years ago KauaiEV participated for the first time. Each car should be decorated with Christmas lights of some kind. Please call, email, or comment on this blogpost for entry and suggestions. The big event is Friday, Dec. 6th. We meet at 3PM - so early, because of traffic jams - at the Vidinha Stadium parking lot. Cars should be mostly decorated at this point and we’ll just put on finishing touches and have fun together. We are looking for a variety of vehicles. If we have too many of one kind we might ask you to either help decorate, ride or come watch and photograph us instead. Parking and answering questions at the end of the parade. Thanks to Sharon organizing! ...

We are happy to announce that the following Board positions and roles have been filled: President  - Sonja Kass Vice President  - Sharon Geiken Treasurer - Nancy Walsh Secretary - Andy Kass Charging Director - Goran Rad Policy Director - Justin Carvalho EAA Contact  - Sharon, Sonja Hawaii EV Contact - Sonja  Member and Mailing List Manager - open Event Coordinator - open Marketing - more help is needed  Blogger, Web and Social Media Person Sonja for FB and Blog, more help is needed, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook Advisors - open Photographer - open Volunteers - Steve Parson, more help is needed If you like to nominate yourself or someone else for one or more of these roles please send me (Sonja) an email or text or a Facebook message to KauaiEV or leave a comment on this blog post (see below).   Please tell us your bit about yourself and answer the following questions  (cut and paste the following into an email and answer inline please). There are no wrong answers, we'd just like to know. NameOccupationDesired role(s) in KauaEVDo you live Kauai, full...

Handout for the KauaiCC OCET class "Electric Vehicles on Kauai" Introduction As the KauaiEV group we are convinced that electric vehicles are the personal transportation of the future. We want to provide information and solutions for electric vehicle drivers and for everyone who is considering purchasing an Electric Vehicle (or EV). Recently, we are also trying to have a very open dialogue with owners of public charging stations, and convince properties to install them. Lots of information about electric vehicles is available on the Internet, but this is specific to Kaua’i - I’m trying to provide answers to questions such as “Where do I buy a new or used Electric Vehicle? Where do I charge? What are the benefits? What about our Utility KIUC, and the local grid?” Show and Tell If we look at a Nissan Leaf, that’s towards the low end EV. My favorite car is the Tesla Model S towards the high end, they have a few things...

Saturday, Sept. 21, 9am-1pm This year's National Drive Electric Week event is approaching quickly! Kauai EV is going to have their first EV festival in beautiful Kilauea at Anaina Hou Community Park.  Our last EVent at Anaina Hou was the Earth Day Caravan In case you'll show your car, please do your best to arrive between 8:30am - 8:45am. There will be someone to assign your parking spot and then go see us at the registration. We hope to have many different EVs there and have an attractive event for the interested public. We will chat, and maybe have a presentation about why we are convinced EVs are the personal transportation of the future.   We are looking for volunteers to help prepare, advertise the event, help out at the festival, bring their cars, play music, learn about electric cars and their benefits, or just to come celebrate with us and have fun. Please sign up at the National Drive Electric Week™ Website ...

This article has been updated June 7 2021. Last week we had a meeting and decided we'd like to have more structure in our group and become an official club, and to model KauaiEV after the Big Island EV Association. All of us in the meeting decided to individually join the EAA  Hawaii Chapter, and make KauaiEV part of the EAA.  (Both paragraphs above are still true, but happened in 2019) We would like to fill the following roles. President (Sonja)Vice President (Sharon)Treasurer (Nancy)Secretary (Andy)Member and Mailing List ManagerDirector of Event Coordinator Director of Policy (Justin)Director of Charging Infrastructure (Goran)MarketingBlogger, Web and Social Media Person (Sonja, but really need help)AdvisorsHawaii EV Contact (Sonja, 2nd person needed)PhotographerVolunteers  We'd also like to have a diverse board, people from all walks of life, areas of Kauai and also people who drive different EVs. So far Nissan Leaf and Kia Niro are well represented and Tesla is underrepresented. All of our board members who are currently on island are in the...

We drove a small* but nice caravan from Kilauea to Anahola, where the Kauai Surfriders helped us to facilitate a productive beach cleanup.   Meeting at Aniana Hou We filled several large contractor bags with marine debris and got to explain and chat about EVs with each other, interested public, beachgoers and the attending Surfrider members. Afterwards we had and a fun potluck. * )The Sunday before Earthday fell on Easter Sunday, which we only realized when we had everything lines up and organized... many EV drivers could not make it and our next EVent will be on a more family-friendly day. ...