A Hawaii County Council member hopes to legally require developers to include electric vehicle charging stations in new parking lots.
Hamakua Councilwoman Heather Kimball introduced at Tuesday’s meeting of the Committee on Public Works and Mass Transit a bill that would require all new parking lots to include a certain number of electric vehicle charging stations.
Under the bill, the required number of charging stations would increase year-by-year. By the end of 2023, “all newly constructed places of public accommodation” would need to have at least two stalls for electric vehicle charging per 50 parking stalls. By the end of 2025, that requirement would be raised to four stalls per 50, and again to six stalls per 50 by the end of 2027, and finally 8 stalls per 50 by the end of 2029.
The bill also would make it a traffic offense for a non-EV to occupy a charging stall, or for an EV to do so without actively charging.
Kimball’s bill is the first in the state to be developed after a bill passed in the state Legislature last year authorized the counties to make such mandates. Kimball said most of the stipulations in her draft bill are taken directly from the state bill.
“I’ve talked with people from the other counties … but we’re pulling the trigger and testing it first, since we have more need here, because we have more drivers,” Kimball said.
As part of her presentation to the committee, Kimball invited Noel Morin, president of the Big Island Electric Vehicle Association, to discuss the challenges of widespread EV adoption.
Morin said that most obstacles preventing people from purchasing an EV will naturally be solved by market competition: the cost of new vehicles will go down, and their capabilities will improve over time.
But the biggest obstacle, he said, is the lack of available charging infrastructure.
In theory, Morin said, an EV owner can do most if not all of their necessary daily vehicle charging at home. But, because many prospective owners rent or own apartments or condos that cannot accommodate home charging infrastructure, EV drivers are limited to charging stations found in public, which are few and far between on the Big Island.
“Everyone on the island should be able to have equitable access to these vehicles,” Kimball said, adding that other states and nations have introduced similar measures to incentivize the rollout of EV infrastructure. “There’s a big wave coming, and we’ve got to catch it.”
County Planning Director Zendo Kern said he is confident that the law, if passed, can be easily incorporated in his department’s existing plan approval process.
However, he noted that the Planning Department only will be able to enforce the requirements based on complaints from users, as the department does not have the necessary staff to ensure that every lot built after the bill passes has the proper number of charging stations.
While council members voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of forwarding the bill to the county’s two Planning Commissions for further discussion, some were concerned about the high cost the bill would impose on developers.
Michael Colón, Hawaiian Electric’s manager of electrification of transportation policy, told the committee that the equipment costs alone for a Level 2 charging station — which offer about 30 miles of driving on one hour of charge — can range from $6,000 to $10,000.
A Level 3 fast-charging station, which can charge at up to 20 miles of range per minute, can cost between $25,000 to $50,000, Colón said. Installation costs of a fast-charging station can reach as high as $80,000.
Kohala Councilman Tim Richards said that, because of the distances involved on the Big Island, investing in fast-charging infrastructure makes more sense, but wondered how developers will be able to fund it.
The Leeward and Windward Planning Commissions will discuss the bill, whereupon it will return to the Public Works and Mass Transit Committee for a decision.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
