Ride and Drive

Ride and Drive

The event was almost a month ago, but better late than never - right? I spent many hours organizing the event, and it really created some backlog in the rest of my life... but now I caught up. I revamped the logo and got a good start on the website. I even started to organize a real-life KauaiEV group again - please let me know if you are interested, just comment on the post or email me. And I'm back to blogging in my spare time. We were quite a few volunteers - many Thanks to everyone who helped - and also had a variety of cars: Nissan Leaf, Ford C-Max, Plug-in Prius, Tesla Model X, Chevy Volt, Kia Soul, Mercedes B-class electric. Aloha Kia brought 2 Souls and took quite a few people on test drives, Garden Island Cars was there as well with a used Nissan Leaf - they sold it soon after the event, I hope to one of...
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Ride and Drive EVent on Sat. Sept. 16th at KCC

Ride and Drive EVent on Sat. Sept. 16th at KCC

KauaiEV, KCC and the National Drive Electric Week are holding an EV Ride-and-Drive EVent on Saturday September 16th at the Kauai Community College Farmer’s Market. It’s a no-pressure, no-hassle opportunity at no charge. We are offering free electric test drives or rides in several different electric vehicles, or you can just chat with EV owners. Do you have questions about electric vehicles? Tax credits? Rebates? Charging Infrastructure? Which EV to buy? Local and state policy? Electricity cost versus gas? EVs in the visitor industry? Purchase incentives? Do you already own an EV and would like to connect to others who drive one? Do you have suggestions or solutions? Electric vehicles are fun to drive. They are smooth and quiet, and their high torque – even at low speeds – provides instant accelerator response.  EVs are cheaper to maintain. Maintenance for EVs costs much less than for gasoline vehicles. EVs require no oil changes and have 10 times fewer moving parts than a gasoline-powered car. There's no engine, transmission, spark...
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Nissan Leaf $10,000 rebate extended!

Nissan Leaf $10,000 rebate extended!

Update November 2017: Kuhio Nissan has several 2017 Leafs, still at the $10,000 rebate - If you are considering buying an EV in the near future don't wait, the federal tax credit might not last, and the rebate definitely won't. Together this will more than double the price of the Leaf. Līhuʻe, Kauaʻi, HI – 07/06/2017 – Nissan North America is again extending an offer to KIUC members to access a $10,000 rebate off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP4) on the model year 2017 Nissan LEAF® sedan at participating dealers. According to Nissan, the limited time offer expires September 30, 2017 or while supplies last - whichever occurs first - and cannot be combined with any other Nissan special lease, APR, or rebate. The rebate, which was originally offered to KIUC members in January and then again in May, can be accessed by presenting the member’s KIUC electric bill and the flyer, which is available for download and printing on the...
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$10,000 rebate on Nissan Leaf extended to June 30

$10,000 rebate on Nissan Leaf extended to June 30

Nissan has extended the $10,000 rebate on new 2017 Leaf models for KIUC customers until June 30th - or until they sell out. With potential federal tax incentives, savings could total $17,500. The car has a 107-mile range; 30 kWh battery; 8 yr. / 100K battery warranty. The 2017 Leaf has a starting price of $30,680, although the cheapest I actually found in Hawaii is $31,745, I believe the difference is a destination charge. After taxes, fees etc. minus rebate and federal tax credits* this brings the actual price to around $16,000. The rebate is part of Hawaiian Electric and KIUC’s effort under its Drive Electric Hawaii initiative to accelerate the adoption of more EVs for cleaner transportation alternatives in Hawaii. This offer expires 6/30/2017 or while supplies last (whichever occurs first). I found the Honolulu dealers more motivated to sell the car, if you want to buy on Kauai you might want to try to talk to Ben Salud, who is very...
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Kekaha or Bust

Kekaha or Bust

Our family recently went on a beach trip to Kekaha from Wailua in our 2015 Nissan Leaf. This is about 70 miles round-trip, and we still have about 100 miles of range on the battery meter, so this was a good test of range in real-world conditions. Spoiler alert: we made it there and back without any issues, though we did stop in Lihue on the return to eat, so we went ahead and charged with 23 miles left (7 miles from home). Why Kekaha? Because we haven't been beyond Waimea in our Leaf, and I realized in 10 years we'd never actually stopped to visit that beach! In our previous gas car, we had always just driven past on our way to Polihale (that'll be another trip for another day in the Leaf). Plus, Kekaha is the start of the "barking sands" beach that wraps all the way from Kekaha town to the Na Pali cliffs at Polihale. You can't...
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KIUC opens new Tesla Solar plus Storage plant

KIUC opens new Tesla Solar plus Storage plant

KIUC held an open house at the new Tesla Solar Farm, I was thoroughly impressed. 55 acres of solar panels, installed following the natural shape of the landscape, gently rolling hills, to be lawn-mowed by sheep, more Tesla power packs than I could previously imagine, new KIUC policy (Tesla powerwalls are permitted, and AC coupled now) super informed KIUC and Tesla company reps giving tours of the facilities and answering questions. And to make a good thing even better, Tesla Oahu brought over two fully loaded cars, a Model S and a Model X. ...
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Ride-and-Drive Event at Kauai Community Market

Ride-and-Drive Event at Kauai Community Market

Blue Planet Foundation held an electric vehicle ride-and-drive event Kauai Community Market in Lihue. The enthusiasm was really encouraging and created a great energy for the day.   We had seven electric vehicles available for test drives including 3 privately owned Nissan Leafs. The Kia dealership brought 3 cars, Kia Soul EV, Kia Optima Plug-in Hybrid, Kia Niro Hybrid, and  Kuhio Chevrolet brought a Chevrolet Volt. At least 23 people took over 35 test drives throughout the morning. The KCC automotive department was there with their KIA Soul EV and many volunteers as well. We are extremely grateful to Blue Planet, KCC automotive department, the dealerships and car owners that gave us your time, energy, and vehicles for the day, and thank you to all volunteers! ...
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Free test drives of electric vehicles offered

Free test drives of electric vehicles offered

Dennis Fujimoto - The Garden Island  PUHI — Sonja Kass has not paid for fuel for her car for the last two years. “We put in a solar photovoltaic system to power up the batteries,” Kass said. “Ever since then, we charge up the car at noon and over the last 2.5 years, we have not gotten an additional charge from the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative for charging up our vehicle.” Kass was among the Kauai Electric Vehicle Alliance promoting a free electric vehicle ride-and-drive program which will take place at the Kauai Community Market from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Kauai Community College. “I have a home PV system, too,” said Al Pugsley, a visitor from Kansas City. “It’s not as big as I wanted it to be, but since last year, it is enough for my two cars — a Tessler and a Nissan Leaf. Our system has three panels and it generates enough to drive the two cars more...
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Nissan in partnership with KIUC was Offering $10,000 Rebates On Nissan LEAF

Nissan in partnership with KIUC was Offering $10,000 Rebates On Nissan LEAF

Sadly the deal ended after they sold the current stock of 9 Leafs on Kauai! The main dealerships on Oahu are sold out as well. Updated 2/17: While most articles claimed the utilities offered the rebate, at least Hawaiian Electric stated clearly that no ratepayer funds were used to fund the rebate, and we believed as well that the rebate on Kauai came from Nissan North America and no KIUC funds were used. I will verify this with KIUC. In support of the state’s Drive Electric Hawaii program, KIUC and Hawaiian Electric offered rebates of up to $10,000 in addition to federal incentives, for those that purchase a new Nissan LEAF. The deal would have lasted until  March 31st 2017, but as soon as it was published in in Utilitydive the dealerships sold out. The 9 lucky new EV drivers got their new Leafs for about $13,500, after all rebates and incentives which totaled $17,500. With the help of a similar program, Missouri expanded its EV drivers from 50 to over 1,200 in 2015 alone. There are about...
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