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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.  We would like to fill the following roles. President  Vice President  (Sonja) Treasurer  Secretary (Andy) Member and Mailing List Manager Event Coordinator  Policy Person Marketing Blogger, Web and Social Media Person (Sonja) Advisors EAA Contact (Sharon and Steve) Photographer Volunteers  If you like to nominate yourself or someone else for one or more of these roles please send me an email and a Facebook message to KauaiEV (see below).   Ideally everyone would just fill one role, however I suspect we won't have enough people, so feel free to apply for more than one. Also, feel free to apply for roles that have names next to them already, everything is open and debatable. Ideally the president should have enough time, and be available more consistently than...

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. ...

Please come to the County meeting tomorrow, Wednesday, May 9, at 5 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Historic County Building to testify for the need for an electric charging station at the Tech Center in Waimea, which is owned by the county. If there is enough testimony chances are very high one or more council members will be proposing an amendment to the Mayor’s operating budget Any owners or supporters of electric cars who could testify as to the need for such a facility at the public hearing on the County Budget next Wednesday, May 9, at 5 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Historic County Building would be really helpful to the cause. It is always more effective to have people show up in person and testify, but for those who can’t come to the hearing, they can help by submitting email testimony by May 9 ( budget decision-making starts on May 10). Email testimony can be submitted...

Reposted from TGI  By Dennis Fujimoto The Garden Island | Wednesday, February 28, 2018, 12:05 a.m. Kudos to Sonja Kass, Ben Sullivan, and the many others (Beth Tokioka was watching the electric vehicles at the Kauai Community Market) on a great Kauai Electric Vehicle Ride and Drive (Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. even took the Electric Soul for a spin around the parking lot under the scrutiny of video cameras).   Pi‘ilani Palama (she used to be a Ching girl) had the nation’s first plug-in hybrid mini van available next to the Tesla (auto pilot even parking the car when it finds a parking space?). Of course, Wes Kaneakua from Aloha Kia Kauai is always knowledgeable about the Kia hybrids and electric cars available for consumers. Now, how many of you liked the custom bike (pedal-power, no less) that was parked near the information table at the Kauai Community Market? Dennis Fujimoto can be reached at 245-0453 or at dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com....

 Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island  Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island Sonja Kass shows off the engine of a Nissan Leaf, Saturday during the Kauai Community Market as a preview of the 4th Kauai EV Ride & Drive coming up, Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dennis Fujimoto/The Garden Island Ben Sullivan drops in to chat with the Kauai EV group, Saturday during the preview of the 4th Kauai EV Ride & Drive coming up Saturday at the Kauai Community Market. PUHI — Sonja Kass has been driving an electric vehicle since 2014. “I have a solar array at home that charges the car,” Kass said. “I can drive and get it charged by the sun — no gas.” Kass was among the group of electric vehicle enthusiasts who invites people to come and ride and drive an electric vehicle for free Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Kauai Community College’s Kauai Community Market site. This is the fourth Kauai EV Ride &Drive program....

The Kaua’i General Plan, which was formally approved earlier this month, contains bold carbon emission reduction goals. It aligns Kaua’i with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, it calls for 80% islandwide emissions reductions by 2050, and it sets a goal for 100% reduction transportation emissions by 2045. In an effort to discuss and learn more about the opportunities and challenges of steep reductions in carbon emissions, Kaua’i EV and the KCC sustainability club are hosting a panel discussion at Kaua’i Community College on Saturday, February 24th at 12:00. The discussion will take place in KCC’s CARP 108 during Kaua’i EV’s annual ride and drive event. Mayor Carvalho will speak about the county goal for 100% clean transportation by 2045. Ben Sullivan, County of Kaua'i Energy and Sustainability Coordinator, will discuss the opportunities and challenges of the 2045 transportation goal. Jeff Mikulina, Blue Planet’s executive director, will elaborate on the need for rapid emissions reductions. And Marie Williams, long range planner...

 It is soon time for another ride-and-drive EVent! The Blue Planet Foundation and KauaiEV are holding an electric vehicle (EV) ride-and-drive event on Saturday, February 24th, at the Kauai Community College Farmer’s Market. It’s a free, no-pressure, no-hassle opportunity to learn about electric cars. Come talk with people who own electric cars on Kauai. Go for a test drive (or ride) to see how they handle (hint: just like a regular car, but with more acceleration). Learn about EV and battery repair programs in the KCC automotive department. If you are interested, you can talk with car dealerships who have new and used models available. We can answer your questions about range, batteries, purchase price, tax credits, rebates, private charging, public chargers, cost comparisons between gas and electric, and much more. At the last event, there were Nissan Leafs, Kia Souls, a Ford C-Max, a Chevy Volt, a Plug-in Prius, a Mercedes B-class, and a Tesla Model X (not all available for rides and test-drives)....

The parade was great! Our cars turned out beautiful, and had high recognition as electric cars. During most of the parade it did not rain, and as the photographer, jogging by the cars I got to hear a lot of positive reactions from the spectators. We also got new signups on the mailing list and (form is in the right sidebar, next to this article) on our Facebook Community right after the parade - we even hit 100 members on Facebook, the latest of whom bought a 10,000$ discounted Leaf at Kuhio Nissan right after the parade!  ...

We got together yesterday morning to practice decorating our cars for the "Lights on Rice" Christmas lights parade next week. It turns out you can just tape strings of lights to the car with blue painter's tape, and it works. We tested our battery-powered lights and regular LED Christmas lights plugged into a small inverter in the 12V plug (cigarette lighter). It's amazing how many strings of LED lights you can run on 120W. We also finished our light-up signs, and Theresa's Leaf will drive around fully lit for a whole week! Best of all, we had so much fun. ...

Do you want to show off your EV in the “Lights on Rice” Christmas parade? Please join us! Each car should be decorated with Christmas lights of some kind. We will meet Saturday Nov 25th (after Thanksgiving) at 9am at Sonja's house to experiment decorating Theresa's car sand sharing ideas that work. Please call, email, or comment on this blogpost for directions. It's also fine just to come, decorate and have fun, you don't have to be in the parade or even own an EV for that. The big event is Friday, Dec. 1st, we meet at 3PM at the Vidinha Stadium parking lot and will do most of the actual decorating there. Please don't come late, traffic jams are expected after 4pm. Sadly at this point in time the parade organizer does not allow extra EVs in the parade in order to not have it get too long,  besides KauaiEV there are 60 other participants. Come watch and photograph us instead, reserve...