Governor Josh Green, M.D. | New Electric Vehicle Charging Station on Maui to Accelerate EV Adoption and Reduce Pollution

Above: One of the NEVI chargers.
Photo courtesy: DOT

The Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT) dedicated the state’s first electric vehicle (EV) charging station funded by a federal program on February 28. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) is located at the Kahului Park & Ride on Maui. It is adjacent to some of Maui’s main highways including Pu‘unēnē Avenue (Route 3500) and Maui Veterans Highway (Route 311) formerly Mokulele Highway.

“This charging station at the crossroads of Maui’s main tho­roughfares will benefit resi­dents like Kahu Wong with a convenient charging spot, fulfilling fed­eral NEVI goals to build an accessible, reliable and equitable charging network across the country,” said HDOT Director Ed Sniffen. “This state and federal partnership, along with HDOT working collaboratively with the counties will move Hawai‘i toward its clean energy goals and help break the cycle of fossil fuel use in this oil-reliant state.”

Since its installation more than 1,000 charging sessions have been logged, the federal program hopes to accelerate the adoption of EVs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Kahu Kalani Wong who conducted the blessing of the station was an ideal candidate to conduct the blessing as he has been freed from paying at the pump and contributed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as a 12-year EV owner. “When I calculated it out, I would have bought 7,000 gallons of gas,”
said Wong.

HDOT is operating its NEVI charging network as revenue-neutral.

Charging prices are:
   •    From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. – $0.44 per kWh
   •    From 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. – $0.57 per kWh

The Maui EV charging station along Kūihelani Highway (Route 380) consists of four 150 kW DC fast chargers with Combined Charging System (CCS) and CHArge de MOve (CHAdeMO) ports. The station’s design and construction cost $3 million; with $2.4 million from federal funds and $600,000 in state highway funds.

The NEVI program was authorized under the federal Bipart­isan Infrastructure Law, which authorizes $1.2 trillion for transportation and infrastructure spending nationwide with $550 billion toward new investments and programs.

In total, HDOT plans on having eight NEVI-funded EV charging stations across the state. To learn more about Hawai‘i’s NEVI state plan, visit https://hidot.hawaii.gov/highways/hawaii-nevi-state-plan/.

Above: Dignitaries untie a maile lei at the blessing. Photo courtesy: DOT