KAHULUI - With the island's future auto mechanics watching, Mayor Charmaine Tavares gave an all-electric pickup truck its first Maui test drive Wednesday afternoon.
"It's weird because there's no noise," Tavares said.
Still, the mayor said she found the vehicle more than sufficient to carry out the future needs of the county's own fleet of cars and perhaps for its own citizens.
"I think our time has come. It's now," Tavares said.
When she was a council member, Tavares said, she talked a lot about renewable energy and the need to reduce the county's dependence on imported fossil fuels. The electric car, Tavares said, represents the potential for change.
Tavares said she hopes there will be federal support for county governments to purchase electric vehicles. The county has about 1,400 vehicles in its fleet.
Tavares' truck driving demonstration on the grounds of Maui Electric Co. in Kahului followed an announcement by Gov. Linda Lingle on Tuesday of a memorandum of understanding signed by MECO and Phoenix Motorcars, an Ontario, Calif.-based manufacturer of electric vehicles. The company will provide 20 to 30 pickup trucks to Maui Electric to test new "nano-titanite" batteries.
Wednesday's audience included automotive students from Maui High School, Kihei Public Charter High School and a Seabury Hall student on an electric car team.
"I think it's awesome," said Shannon Rowe, a former national student auto mechanics champion who now teaches at Maui High School. Rowe and fellow automotive teacher Neill Nakamura, were joined by about a dozen automotive students for the demonstration.
"Everything is the same about the car but the engine, and yet, performance-wise, it doesn't suffer," Rowe said.
According to Phoenix, the truck has a top speed of 95 mph. It'll run for 130 miles before needing to be charged again, and its cost, according to engineering Manager Rick Reinhard, runs about $47,000.
MECO's Andy Herrera, who also gave the battery-powered truck a thumbs-up test drive, said the company is delighted to try out vehicles with alternative energy sources.
According to Herrera, MECO operates about 142 gas vehicles, including light and medium trucks plus 31 heavy trucks and two hybrid cars. He said MECO has been looking for ways to be less dependent on gas-guzzling cars.
In fact, Herrera said, he'd love to see Phoenix Motorcars make more than just a pickup truck and suburban utility vehicles.
"A bucket truck, that would be nice," Herrera said.
The electric truck demonstration included Phoenix Motorcars' chief executive officer, Dan Elliott, and its chief operations officer and vice president, Alexander Lee.
Lee took the lead last year in making contacts with Maui County officials and then MECO. "We got a lot of strong support," he said.
Details are still being worked out, but the rollout could begin with about 10 vehicles and increase to as many as 30 for MECO to use in the first quarter of 2009. After that, the test runs could lead to more electric vehicles being added and eventually cars being sold to consumers by the end of the new year.
Phoenix Motorcars has approximately 200 electric vehicles in various stages of production at its Ontario factory. Components of the vehicle are produced in Korea and the United States.
Lee said Phoenix decided to test its vehicles here in part because the state is "one of the clear leaders for clean energy."
In addition to testing the vehicles, Phoenix is exploring the possibility of setting up a car assembly plant on Maui, he said.
Seabury Hall junior Michael Sugimura took photos of the electric truck and invited Phoenix officials to visit his school, where students are creating their own electric car.
"It makes sense for the county to be looking at renewable energies," Sugimura said.
Sugimura said he looks forward to a future in electric cars, and he is impressed by its quiet ride. "I see it as progressive," he said.
* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.
