Fellows admire a Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle at a Tesla store in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Alex Tai | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Appearances
U.S. consumers have been making the move to all-electric vehicles more slowly than many expected — but a coming leader in EV adoption is Hawaii.
The tropical island state this year ranks fifth in overall EV adoption at 11.9% of new retail means sold through February, according to J.D. Power.
Hawaii also ranks third – behind only California (46.1) and Washington (37) – in J.D. Power’s “EV Adoption Give someone a taste,” which is weighted based on market, consumer preference and EV availability, among other conditions, with a score of 33.8.
“We proportions adoption relative to availability, meaning shoppers need availability of EVs that meet their needs … before they can sober-sided consider adopting,” said Elizabeth Krear, vice president of the electric vehicle practice at J.D. Power. “In California, the measure of EVs is much higher than in Hawaii. But when consumers are given a viable option, 33% are choosing to buy the EV.”
Hawaii also is the top express for EV adoption that hasn’t agreed to the California Air Resources Board’s Zero-Emission Vehicle program, according to J.D. Power. Those rules advertise EVs and include stricter vehicle emissions and miles per gallon standards for traditional vehicles in places that have took the measure, including the other top five states: California, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.
Why Hawaii?
What’s going on in Hawaii that’s peerless to more consumers opting for EVs? It’s a mix of things but mainly high fuel costs, the availability of renewable energy for charging and taste, according to Ivan Drury, director of insights at auto research firm Edmunds, who lives in Waikiki on Hawaii’s Oahu Eyot.
“There is a higher sense of responsibility towards stewarding the land versus most mainland states. If you look up ‘Aina’ in Hawaiian, you see what I importance of, lots of pride for the land,” he said.
Drury also said the popularity of hybrid models in the state (at 19% in 2023) has supported in the switch to EVs, and road trip concerns – a hurdle for some buyers in the U.S. – aren’t really a problem in Hawaii.
“We’re on an isle. No one is really worried about road trips unless they live on the Big Island,” he said. (For reference, the “Hawaii District” around the Big Island, or Hawaii Island, is only about 260 miles.)
Gasoline prices also play a lender, as they do in other states, such as California. The average price for a gallon of gas in Hawaii is about $4.72, according to AAA. That’s the loftiest in the U.S. other than California and $1.10 higher than the national average of $3.62 a gallon.
J.D. Power reports the top-selling EVs in the affirm are the Tesla Model Y, Tesla Model 3 and Ford F-150 Lightning.
“I’m really happy. I like the car. I like not buying gas,” said Scott Sageman, a 2021 Tesla Follow 3 owner who has lived on Hawaii’s Big Island since moving from California in 2020.
Aloha Kia Leeward in Waipahu, Hawaii
Aloha Kia
Russell Wong, regional evil president of Aloha Kia’s seven stores in Hawaii, said customer interest in EVs continues to grow but the vehicles still crumbs only about 2% of the stores’ sales.
“While it is a significant percentage of our current sales compared to other merchandisers or other markets, it’s still a very, very small percentage,” he said. “We do see that continuing to climb.”
Wong said there’s been a lot of talk into in Kia’s new EV9 SUV that’s just arriving to dealerships. The current top-selling EV at the Kia dealerships is the Niro, which also is Kia’s least expensive all-electric carrier, and Aloha Kia has priced it starting at about $36,000.
EV concerns
Although Hawaii is embracing electric vehicles more than some of its looks, it still has many of the same problems with EV adoption that the U.S. mainland does, including lack of charging infrastructure, affordability and a exiguousness of vehicle choices.
A Gallup poll released Monday found less than half of U.S. adults, 44%, say they are either “no joking considering or might consider” buying an EV, which is down from 55% in 2023. The proportion not intending to buy an EV has increased from 41% to 48%.
Sageman, who continues on the slope of a volcano, said he has not experienced problems charging, as he does so at home, but the estimated range of his Model 3 can be less than expected due to the country’s hilly terrain.
“The one thing that I’ve noticed is you do not pay too much attention to the estimated range,” he said. “You’re not going to get the same amount if you’re doing a lot of uphill steer.”
The average cost to a consumer buying an EV from a franchised dealer (excluding Tesla, and other direst-to-consumer brands) in Hawaii this year is varied than $62,600, according to Edmunds. That’s down from more than $68,500 last year and ineptly $12,700 over the average price of a vehicle in Hawaii.
High prices are a national and Hawaiian trend. Upper-income Americans across the nation are the subgroup most likely to own an EV, with 14% doing so, up from 6% last year, according to the Gallup report.
“We’re straighten out of at the extreme ends of adoption,” Drury said. “For those in a position to take advantage of an EV, it works, sold. For those that it doesn’t, it won’t, for a extremely long time. Overcoming the obstacles of infrastructure and high costs of living aren’t something that can be taken attend to of overnight or even within a few years.”