 It's Wednesday again and you know what day that is. Hawaii, the state of clean energy. I'm your host, Mitch Yuan. I'm joined today by two guests, Peter Razig from Hawaiian Electric Company and he's got some good news for everyone so hold that thought. And Noel Moran from the Big Island Electric Vehicle Association, a gathering place for Hawaii EV or electric vehicle enthusiasts. So first of all, Peter I'm going to go to you and you have some good news for everybody out there. So it is good news in a way and that is that at the Public Utilities Commission request, we're not going to be doing any disconnections through the end of the year, through at least through December 31st. As you know, we started in March and then we've extended it once now, given the circumstances we've extended it again. So you know, the last thing we want to do is cut somebody's electricity so we will not you know, be turning anybody off for lack of payment to at least through the end of the year. But the other side of that coin is that you're still going to, if you're not paying your bill or part of your bill every month, you're still going to owe that money. Eventually you're going to have to pay. And so this would be a great time to, if you haven't been paying, or if you're having a problem, or you think you're going to have a problem, would this is a great time to go to hawainelectric.com slash payment arrangement. And then you can get work out of payment arrangement. And there's a lot of different arrangements there. You could do it over different periods. If you aren't paying your anything at all right now, we strongly urge you to pay something because at the end of the day, you're going to have to pay for this approximately nine or 10 months that you didn't pay. And it's going to be a big bill at the end and nobody wants to face that. So the good news is no disconnections. We're very glad not to have anybody have to worry about being without power due to not having paid a bill through the end of the year. But we really, really urge people to go to hawainelectric.com slash payment arrangement. If you are not paying your bill, if you haven't paid, if you've gotten behind, we can't help you if you have not let us know. And there are also links to some places that can help you with this problem if you need financial assistance through one of the programs like the CARES Act and so forth. But the first step is up to you. If you have not been paying your bill regularly, if you're getting behind, if you fear you're going to get behind, go to hawainelectric.com slash payment arrangement and let us know. It's a very simple form. And then we can begin to talk to you about how to work things out. The last, last thing we want to do to anybody is turn off their power because they didn't pay. And the second, the last thing is we don't want to see anybody in nine or 10 months stuck with a huge bill that really, really makes it hard for them. So that's the story. So I guess you can also go to the hawainelectric website and look at energy efficiency strategies that people can use to try and keep that bill from getting too big. Yes. Absolutely. But do something. Right. Okay. Well, thank you very much, Peter. And now I'm going to introduce Noel Moran from the Big Island Electric Vehicle Association. So welcome, Noel. Hello, Mitch. Thank you very much for the invitation. It's great to be here. So I'd like to know a lot more. And I'm sure our audience would like to know a lot more about the Big Island EV Association. Like I didn't know too much about it at all until I reached out to you or you reached out to me a few months ago. And it looks like a pretty neat organization. So why don't you tell us all about it? Why do we have one? And how are you supporting electric vehicles on the Big Island? Great. So I'll start off by saying that our organization started in 2011 as Hawaii or EV Hawaii. Essentially, a whole bunch of Nissan Leaf owners got together. This was early on at the start of the ramp up of EVs. And we decided to get together so we can figure out how to help each other. After a while, we determined that there was an opportunity for us to help others adopt electric vehicles. And in doing so, allow for more EV charging infrastructure, more support, increased dealership support and so on and so forth. The idea was that the more of us on the road, the more popular it would become and it would become the norm. So we essentially shifted our focus to enhance the adoption of electric vehicles across the island. So this was back in 2011. Back then, we had about 40 or so electric vehicles on Hawaii Island. As of July this year, we have about 800 electric vehicles on this island. Our association is about close to 300 members. And we essentially invite EV owners as well as would be EV owners and supporters of sustainable transportation to be part of our organization and to help with our mission. The programs that we're involved with are primarily on advocacy and education. So we have, prior to COVID, we were doing monthly meetups where we would advertise ahead of time the fact that a group of us would be at a coffee shop, for example, and we would invite the general public to come and talk story, learn about EVs from actual EV owners, maybe get behind the wheel or get in the seat of one and learn about the car. It was a terrific way to get people really behind, eventually behind the wheel. We also have a website where we share a lot of information. We're on social media. We also host events. There are a couple of big events throughout the year, a national drive electric week, as well as a drive electric birthday. This year, because of COVID, a number of these activities have shifted into the online format. So later in September and early October, we will be hosting a couple of webinars where we can socialize the benefits and electric vehicles and also address questions that people might have. As far as other activities, we have individuals in our club who act as consultants. So if there are people that are interested in a specific vehicle, for example, we're able to match them up with someone who owns the vehicle and they can exchange information, get questions addressed, maybe even meet in person to take a look at the car. So these activities allow us to get the word out, essentially, to demystify the EV and hopefully get more EV drivers on the road. We're also very active in supporting the expansion of EV infrastructure. And by that, I mean helping potential site hosts to understand what's entailed in getting an EV charger on their site, working with local government, working with the utility to identify potential locations for these charging stations, and then also helping the general public understand how they're used and also EV owners to understand where they're located and how to utilize and access them. Lastly, we're involved in policy advocacy. So there are certain policies that are conducive to the expansion of EV infrastructure to the adoption of EVs. A good example would be tax incentives for the purchase of a new EV. Things like this have historically been very important because EVs tend to be more expensive than gas counterparts, but that's slowly but surely changing. We now have a number of EVs that are out there that are almost comparable to similarly sized gas cars. So what kind of tax incentives do we have in place now? I mean we used to have a really generous tax incentive. Is that still the case? What kind of level are we talking about? Yeah, several years ago, in fact, back in 2011, when we purchased our first EV, the state had an actual rebate. It was a $5,000 rebate for the purchase of an EV. And there was even an incentive for a rebate for the installation of a charging station, a home charging station. That doesn't exist at the moment, and there's an opportunity there. The other incentive comes in the form of a federal tax credit, and that still exists. It's been pared down, and for some makes and models, they're no longer in existence. So for example, a Tesla purchase no longer qualifies for the $7,500 tax credit, but there are other EVs where that is still applicable. So depending on the electric vehicle and also depending on the tax situation for the purchaser, there could be some federal tax incentives or benefits. So what is the main speed bump or barrier for where people pause before they buy the electric vehicle? What are the speed bumps that have to be overcome to get people incentivized to actually buy one? I think the main one now is consumer awareness, misconception about the vehicles. Several years ago, the considerations were cost. Another consideration was range. People were concerned that they wouldn't be able to get by for the entire commute day without having to figure out a charging solution. And just misconceptions about the technology, the safety of batteries and things along those lines. Some of those issues persist today. There are still some misconceptions about cost. The fact of the matter is there are, like I mentioned earlier, there are a number of EVs that are very affordable now. The other consideration is that there are pre-owned electric vehicles that are very affordable and still have quite a bit of life in them. So that would be one general misconception or a barrier. And that would be just a misunderstanding about the qualities, the operation of the cost to own an electric vehicle. And fortunately, that's an easy issue to solve, because it's educating, it's getting them in situations where they can converse and getting information in front of them. The other issue is the charging infrastructure. Whereas many EV owners will have readily available in their home, even just a 110 or 220 outlet as a charging station, there are quite a few, especially in Oahu, where there's a high percentage of condos and apartment dwellers where it may not be possible to have access to a home charging unit. So the charging infrastructure continues to be a barrier to some extent, particularly in really densely populated places where there's a high number of condo dwellers. Here on Hawaii Island, it's less of an issue now. And the reason for that is the number of EVs that have a significant amount of range. I personally define that as 200 miles or more of range per charge. That is usually more than enough to satisfy the fueling requirement for an EV owner here. Again, if they live in a condo or an apartment, there's still that issue, and therefore, they would need to have access to good charging infrastructure. So those two, in my opinion, consumer awareness would be one, poor consumer awareness, and then the other would be inadequate charging infrastructure. So what are we doing about condominiums? There's a lot of pushback, I understand, and condominium association is not willing to spend the money to put in charging infrastructure. It can be a major deal to upgrade their power input. Is that an issue? Does it have to be legislated? What do you see there? What's that situation to do? I help out a little bit more. Yeah, you know, this is an area that I need to learn about more, a bit more about. But what I'm aware of is that there is the opportunity with legislation to ensure that future construction would offer property owners or property managers with access to the infrastructure required for charging stations. So Honolulu passed, I can't recall the name of the bill right now, but there was a bill that was passed that essentially mandated EV-ready charging infrastructure for new construction. So if it's a condo or a commercial complex that there would be infrastructure conduits just to ensure that at some point in the future the installation of a charging station wouldn't be a very costly endeavor. So that would be one thing. But in addition to that, I think that having publicly accessible charging stations and our utility has been very good about identifying opportunities for DC fast chargers which allow for rapid charging of an EV. So very similar to, not exactly the same, but similar to going to a gasoline station where you're able to top off with a DC fast charger, you're able to recharge your battery to a significant percentage in 15, 20, 30 minutes. So having those strategically placed around the islands will allow for condo dwellers who don't have access to charging stations to be able to charge. So I actually have a question from a viewer, and here's the question. Well, what about horsepower? I live on the big island and need a truck for my farm. Are there EV trucks available? How much do they cost? And do they have their horsepower to do the job on a farm? Yes, yes. So the answer is they're not yet available, but they're coming soon. And there are quite a few of these EV or electric trucks that are coming from a number of manufacturers. Tesla's coming up with a Cybertruck, Rivian has an electric truck. There's the Nikola Badger, which comes in fuel cell and battery electric. Ford F-150 is coming out with one. Chevy is coming out with one. There are a number of these manufacturers new as well as established that recognize that this is a form factor that's really important for contractors. And obviously here on the island, it's a very popular vehicle. So those are coming. And as far as power is concerned, electric vehicles have quite a bit of torque and they have access to all that torque instantly. So one can go online and look up Ford F-150 videos and electric F-150 videos and you can see that. You can see it pulling a train. So it's not an issue. Torque is not an issue with the electric vehicle drivetrain. So what kind of EV do you have personally? So I have a Tesla, a 2013 Tesla Model S. It's something that we purchased to replace our Nissan Leaf back in 2014. And we love the car. It works very well. It doesn't have all the high-tech gadgetry as the newer Teslas, but it is the job for us. So that's what, about a seven-year-old car now? Do you say 2013? Yeah, we purchased it and it was manufactured in 2013, late 2013. So what's the battery life on it? How are you doing with the batteries? Is the battery still staying relatively healthy? Yes, I think it gets 265 or so for a full charge. Now, with EV owners known to avoid charging to 100%, to maximize the life of the battery for daily use, I charge up to 80%. So I never get a chance to try and figure out how many miles from 100 down to zero. Right. Well, I used to have a gasoline car that only you've got 200 miles on a tank of gas. That was plenty for me. I mean, that's just me. But Big Island, of course, you have a lot bigger ranges. I have another question. I tried to buy a hybrid when I first came to Hawaii 18 years ago and I couldn't get a bank loan because there was no history. It was a Prius and it had no history about these kinds of cars. How easy is it now to get financing for an electric vehicle? Have they solved that problem? Yes. I haven't heard of any challenges getting financing and also insurance for electric vehicles. In fact, as far as insurance went, it was comparable to what we were paying for our gas car when we purchased the Nissan Leaf. So I have not heard of it being an issue in terms of obtaining financing. Okay. So what about, okay, so let's look at some of the barriers. What kind of legislation? Is there any legislation that we need in place? I mean, they've clawed back some of the benefits that electric vehicles had like free parking at the airport and, you know, I forget what the other ones are. I think the free parking was a big clawback. The perception was though that some EV owners were like playing the system and going and parking their car at the airport for free for like weeks at a time. So that's one thing that happened. But what kind of legislation, what kind of policy do you think is needed to overcome some of the barriers or encourage, you know, EVs more like, should we get the incentives back or what do you think here? What's here? What's the organization that can need to get done? I think that, I think the incentives continue to be important. One of the things that I'm concerned about is, you know, just the social equity angle in the past when these EVs were first coming out, including the Nissan Leaf, they were out of reach for the general public. When you migrate over to the Tesla, even more so, right, you're talking about vehicles that were like over $100,000. So what's important, I think, is that there is the ability for, you know, the general public, including lower income groups to be able to afford the electric vehicle. One thing that could assist with this is to ensure that the incentives that are installed take into account the social equity piece. So rather than have a, you know, a policy that says, anybody, if you purchase an electric vehicle, you get a $2,500 rebate, it ought to take into account the income strata of the purchasers. So that would be one thing. I think that that continues to be an important piece to it. The legislation should also take into account the nature of the vehicles. So, for example, having a rebate or some type of incentive apply not only to new vehicles, but maybe vehicles below a certain price point. So now you're targeting a lower, you know, a lower cost, a more affordable EV, and maybe even pre-owned vehicles. I was going to ask you about the secondary market. Exactly, exactly. And that's now substantial. There are quite a few pre-owned electric vehicles that represent a very, very, you know, affordable solution for many. Layering on top of that an incentive that allows a buyer of a pre-owned vehicle to be able to leverage that incentive as well, I think would do wonders. On the infrastructure side, there are quite a few things that I think can be done. We do have a law on the books that essentially calls for the installation of an EV charging station as well as a reserve EV parking slot on parking lots that are over a certain size, right? I believe it's 100 parking stalls or so. The challenge with that law is that it is not being enforced. So there's an opportunity there to take a look at the programs that were intended to enhance adoption of electric vehicles, EV charging infrastructure, for example, and ensure that they are actually being executed. And it's not just about getting a charging station installed, but also ensuring that they are maintained, that they are reliable, that they are able to be utilized. So those are just a couple of things. But the one thing that I'd like to emphasize is that the social equity piece must be emphasized. And when you look at it from that perspective, you also start to understand that sustainable transportation is not just about being able to afford and drive an electric car. There are other forms of transit that we need to take into account. So let's electrify our mass transit, because we have a good part of our population that is actually on there. And if we're still burning diesel to get people from one point to the other, there's a big opportunity there to allow that segment of the population to be able to benefit from electrification. So I'd like to circle back a little bit on the secondary market. So if I'm in a lower economic group, and I want to buy an electric second hand electric vehicle, I think my big concern would be how much life has this battery gone in it? And am I going to buy this car and then all of a sudden it is stuck with having to replace the battery? So what about some kind of legislation or incentive that allows people in a certain economic group to get a grant or some kind of a subsidy to actually replace the battery in a second in a used electric vehicle? Maybe that's a little bit further out of the box. But what do you think about something like that? I think it's a great idea. There are challenges with some of the older LEAFs, for example. These had batteries that are not as sophisticated as the newer ones or other EVs. And in situations like that, if you get a bad battery, you're talking about, I don't know, $5,000 to get that replaced. So finding a way to offset that might also be an opportunity. I think one important thing about the secondary market is also consumer awareness about what they're getting into. So there's one angle which is if it's a dealership that's selling this pre-owned vehicle that they stand behind the product, but a lot of these are being sold on the private market. And I think it's important for would be EV owners who are purchasing pre-owned to be aware of the consideration that you just raised, what that means. And some of these cars still have warranties. And that might cost a little more, but maybe that's peace of mind. So there's education there that I think is very important for Hawaii residents to be aware of. Well, believe it or not, we have about a minute left. Wow. It really goes fast. And I want to make sure that I've covered things that you want to get out. So in the last minute or so, is there any message or any final thought that you want to leave our audience with? Yes. I'm very passionate about the electrification of transportation because of our climate crisis. The transportation accounts for roughly 40% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the state. And driving an electric car allows an individual to be part of the solution. They're able to instantly shift, you know, turn off their consumption of gasoline and greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. So I think it's a very important, you know, consideration. And lastly, there's a lot of information on our website, BigIslandEV.org. We also created recently a new organization for the state, HawaiiEV.org. And when you go there, you can actually find information about events that are coming up. We have two webinars on the 29th, as well as on October 3rd, where we can actually educate, where the public can actually learn a lot about electric vehicles on Hawaii Island and ask questions. So thanks very much for this opportunity, Mitch. It's been great. And yes, the time flew. Well, I invite you to send us a blast out to your membership so that they can get it and invite them also to pass it on. So it's like a chain reaction, so we can get some good coverage. And they have another. No, I'll thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show and tell us about the Big Island Electric Vehicle Association. So, aloha, everyone.