Page 14 - Living Aloha Magazine 21 May April June 2017

our GrEEN

trANsForMAtIoN

The Big Shift to All-Electric Cars

by Gerry Dameron, Executive Director

of Go Green Culture Foundation

tHE WORLD OF ALL-ELECtRIC CARS IS EXPAnDInG FASt.

Have you noticed all the electric cars on the roads these days?

They seem to be everywhere, right?

The sleek and elegant Tesla Model S, TECH TALK. Don’t get hybrid cars liquid fuel combustion engines, two-
the somewhat eccentric BMW i3, and mixed up with all-electric, aka Battery thirds of the power is lost as waste heat.
of course the 800+ cutesy Nissan Leafs Electric Vehicles (BEV’s, or EV;s for And lithium ion batteries are another
that we see all around Maui. Maui short). Unlike EV’s, hybrids and plug-in part of the EV success story. Lithium
County was recently acknowledged hybrids have an internal combustion based battery systems are light weight,
as being the top county in the US, per engine (ICE) on board which creates efficient, and rapidly dropping in price.
capita, for EV ownership. The shift to pollution by burning gasoline, diesel, And lithium is the 3rd most prevalent
electric cars seems to be happening or less polluting bio diesel. Although molecule on earth behind Hydrogen
fast. Some transportation and hybrids are more efficient and burn less and Oxygen, so we will never run out of
university pundits are saying that by fuel per mile than standard gasoline lithium as we move more and more to
2030 the majority of new car sales in cars, they are still burning fuel and battery powered cars.
Hawaii and around the world will be emitting pollution. In place of an EV’S ARE CHEAPER & CLEANER
all-electric. internal combustion engine, all-electric TO OWN AND OPERATE. Most
I am one of the enthusiastic early cars have only a battery, a battery people still don’t understand that
converts to all-electric (EV) transport. management system (BMS), and an when you drive an all-electric car,
With a roof rack on my Nissan Leaf all- electric motor. The electric motor is you are going to save loads of
electric, I get to go stand up paddling one of the technological marvels of money to operate and fuel up your
around Maui with ZEG (Zero Eco our time, as it generates motive power vehicle while you also dramatically
Guilt). It feels great to drive around in the range of 90% to 93% efficiency, reduce your pollution impact on the
our island paradise as an EV driver, resulting in a 300% advantage over the environment. Even using electricity
knowing that I am helping Maui to combustion based vehicles which burn from dirty coal, an electric car will
lower our carbon footprint, decrease liquid fuel at about 31% efficiency. With burn 70% or so cleaner than a
pollution, and lower oil imports.
Since Hawaii currently imports $7
billion worth of gasoline and oil every
year, and since 65% of our overall
societal energy demand goes to
transportation, the accelerating EV Electric cars burn 70% cleaner
revolution is becoming a big deal for
Hawaii’s ecological and economic than a gasoline car
future. How can EV’s make a positive
impact on our future sustainability,
and why are so many people jumping
onto the electric vehicle bandwagon?

14 FEATURES Living Aloha | SUMMER 2017