Robert Smith and his wife, Karla McDermid Smith, have spent their professional lives focused on environmental issues.
She is a professor of marine science at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. He is the retired administrator for the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve.
That’s why it’s no surprise that she has long-wanted an electric car. In late January, her new Chevy Bolt arrived and so did a new sense of joy for McDermid Smith.
She likes the concept of renewable energy for daily transportation.
“I hope Hawaii’s electric grid will someday be mostly renewable power (wind, solar, geothermal),” she said via email. “We are going to try to charge our car at home using renewable home sources such as solar.”
McDermid Smith also likes driving without producing air pollution.
“Feels great not to be adding carbon emissions to the air, and also the car is quiet while not polluting,” she said.
Plus, she appreciates whizzing by gas stations without needing to stop.
“Saves time,” she said. “Petroleum fuel emissions harm the environment, but the grind of having to go to the filling station is wearing. Very glad not to have to stop for fuel at a gas station.”
She and her husband do a little ranching in the Volcano region and their son goes to school in Waimea, leading them to put about 1,300 miles on her new, all-electric Bolt within the first couple of weeks.
Not a drop of gasoline had to be pumped to drive all those miles — and they’re pleased as punch with the car’s performance.
“I love it,” McDermid Smith said.
She understands electricity production still involves the use of fossil fuels. However, Hawaii law — the first in the nation — requires all electric power sold come from renewable sources by 2045.
“It’s the beginning,” McDermid Smith said during a separate telephone interview. “I guess it’s to make a statement that we need to get away from fossil-fuel dependence and the air pollution.”
The Smiths might be representative of automobile ownership’s future in Hawaii County. Legislators are working on bills that would require transportation, such as electricity production, to be free of fossil fuels by 2045, with the possible exception of collector cars.
According to testimony from the Sierra Club of Hawaii, the popularity of electric cars is rising. More than 5,000 electric vehicles already are on the roads throughout the state.
The Sierra Club says transportation accounts for 66 percent of fossil fuel consumed in the state, and 1 in 3 residents in a statewide survey said they were “thinking about buying an electric vehicle.”
Big Island businesses also are beginning to take notice, and some installed charging stations.
“They look at it as an advantage because it would bring in a different type of clientele,” said Noel Morin, president of the Big Island Electric Vehicle Association.
It’s a business investment that requires dedicating space for charging-station infrastructure, parking spots taken up whenever drivers are charging and a commitment to basic upkeep.
“Some business owners are willing to go through that just so they can contribute,” Morin said. The association says there are 230 electric vehicles on the Big Island.
Several charging spots are available in East Hawaii, including at the Community Center in Pahoa and Target and Home Depot in Hilo. Some offer free charging for electric vehicles. Others might ask $7 to “fill up” on electricity — versus $25 or more for gasoline, Morin said.
“It all varies, based on the charging station that you’re using, and the car that you have,” he said.
Morin and his spouse have a Nissan Leaf and a Tesla. They charge at home from solar power.
“So our costs for the cars is very minimal,” Morin said.
The Smiths stayed in close contact ahead of time with the service manager at DeLuz Chevrolet in Hilo, to make sure mechanics are ready to service the Bolt, which they are. The car for McDermid Smith was ordered from the mainland because Big Island dealerships haven’t gotten their stocks delivered yet.
Robert Smith, who helped establish the Mokupapapa Discovery Center in Hilo, and is retired from the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service, said he thinks his wife’s is the first all-electric Chevy Bolt on the island. The Electric Vehicle Association said that is indeed the case.
“The regeneration of electricity back into these cars is simply remarkable,” Smith said.
Driving uphill uses a lot of electricity. But when the driver heads downhill, the vehicle recharges. And it doesn’t lose quite as much going up as it gains going down.
“This thing called ‘range anxiety’ — this phenomenon that electric car owners have — is real,” Smith said. There’s a worry that tickles the mind, forever asking, “do I have enough battery charge left to get home?”
But Smith said his wife’s car has a range of 240 to 250 miles.
“We’re satisfied beyond our expectations,” he said.
McDermid Smith said driving an electric car has made her pay more attention to how much power she’s using.
“You become a lot more conscious about energy required to do work, to go fast. It makes you a better driver,” she said. In a gasoline-powered vehicle, pressing the gas pedal happens almost reflexively with the knowledge you’ll stop at a gas station eventually.
But in an electric car, you’re aware you’ll have to plug in to recharge.
“You’re thinking about your energy consumption,” McDermid Smith said.
The Big Island Electric Vehicle Association plans an electric-vehicles rally and parade starting at 9:30 a.m. today at Macy’s in Hilo and ending approximately 10-10:30 a.m. at Wikifresh, 1177 Kilauea Ave. in Hilo, where the public will be invited to view the all-electric Chevy Bolt.
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
