Now Here Is A Niche

[Big Dave]

For electric cars and maybe wind power: Hawaii.

There are not many roads in Hawaii. Thirty miles is a long drive. A battery car could make sense here. You do not need a heater and on the Leeward side, not much of an air conditioner.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/te...i.html?_r=1&em

Better to make the cars out of fiberglass. The salt air makes stuff rust like crazy in Hawaii.

Also, Hawaii is in a trade wind zone. Twenty knot winds 355 days a year. Probably more at the ridgeline.

OK. Hawaii is not much of a market and those conditions cannot be replicated in too many other places, but it is a valid niche.

[roflwaffle]

I've often wondered why Hawaii hasn't switched to alternatives sooner. They pay like ~20-40c/kWh because a lot of the electricity comes from fuel oil, and since they also pay more to have fuel shipped in EVs+renewables would probably be a win-win situation for them.

[jamesqf]

Forget the wind power, just think of the frigging geothermal potential!

I think if you took not just Hawaii, but all similar-sized and smaller islands, it'd add up to a decent starter market for electric vehicles.

[MetroMPG]

I love this quote on a couple of levels:

“We always knew Hawaii would be the perfect model,” he said in a telephone interview. “The typical driving plan is low and leisurely, and people are smiling.”

The ForkenSwift wants to live in Hawaii! It will rust much more slowly than in Ontario winters.

Oh wait, its twin already does live there.

[trebuchet03]

Interesting to see the cordless power tool model applied to EVs....

It'd be sweet to track individual batteries... So when you get a battery swap, something like an MFD would display the FE the last person got

[Big Dave]

I'd recommend giving Forkenswift a good Ziebart job before going to Hawaii. Stuff corrodes like crazy in that warm salt air.

Corrosion and termites are active year round there. Even worse if you live on the Windward Side (Kaneohe, or Hilo).

[DifferentPointofView]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

Forget the wind power, just think of the frigging geothermal potential!

I think if you took not just Hawaii, but all similar-sized and smaller islands, it'd add up to a decent starter market for electric vehicles.

lol right on there. They think that Ireland's geothermal and hydroelectric potentials has THE potential to power the top half hemisphere of the earth.

But they're not sure. what if hawaii went in on it too? and my birthplace in the Philippines? how bout any place with magmatic activity?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by DifferentPointofView

lThey think that Ireland's geothermal and hydroelectric potentials has THE potential to power the top half hemisphere of the earth.

Huh? Ireland has geothermal potential? Sure you don't mean Iceland? And of course the problem with using their geothermal to power anyplace off the island is the couple thousand miles of undersea power transmission line that'd be needed.

But they're not sure. what if hawaii went in on it too? and my birthplace in the Philippines? how bout any place with magmatic activity?

Phillipines maybe could work too. They've got the volcanic activity, at least on some of the islands. I think the problem would be the greater distances. After all, on most of the Hawaiian Islands (and a lot of Carribean islands, too), it's pretty hard to drive more than 50 miles or so without going around in circles, while IIRC the bigger islands of the Phillipines are closer to the size of the Japanese main islands.

[DifferentPointofView]

^
Heheh... yea I mean ICELAND... So I screwed up one letter

Yea, about that volcanic activity... I *technically* was in the Philippines when Mount Pinatubo erupted. My whole town got destroyed with ash. Maybe why I have asthma?

What about Yellowstone? or near Mt. St. Helen's? I know there's probably lots of environmental buffs naysaying the Yellowstone thing, but we aren't necessarily dealing with oil spills with geothermal energy.

[DifferentPointofView]

And of course the problem with using their geothermal to power anyplace off the island is the couple thousand miles of undersea power transmission line that'd be needed.

Technically you wouldn't have to go 1000's of miles undersea. you could start with inland europe, expand eastward towards asia/Russia, to Alaska, to Canada, and then into the US. Using other Geothermal plants (if we make them) along the way to send power around the globe. of course thats pretty farfetched sounding lol.