The Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle has signed a deal with Better Place to add the state to the growing list of countries and regions developing an electric cars infrastructure.
Better Place has similar agreements in place with California, Israel, Denmark, Portugal and Japan to establish a charging network and introduce mass-market electric cars.
Hawaii currently spends $7 billion a year on foreign oil imports, which give rise to around 20% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“Hawaii, with its ready access to renewable energy resources like solar, wind, wave and geothermal, is the ideal location to serve as a blueprint for the rest of the US in terms of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, growing our renewable energy portfolio and creating an infrastructure,” commented founder and CEO of Better Place, Shai Agassi.
Better Place has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hawaiian Electric Companies to collaborate on a network of public charging points and battery swapping stations for electric cars. Both will be supplied with renewable energy.