Hawai'i loves cars almost as much as it loves Barack Obama. We're at the intersection of rail, congestion, fuel prices and renewable energy — lots of changes and choices. Those choices include plug-in electric cars. How will they perform, what will they cost and how will they change our lives?

Better Place, an Israeli network provider for electric vehicles, is expanding globally and wants to come to Hawai'i. Should we welcome it?

POWER FROM HECO GRID

Imagine hopping into a stylish new Nissan-Renault plug-in and silently zipping off to work, assuming you can get through the congestion. All you need to do is disconnect the Better Place plug from the overnight off-peak charging unit in your garage and off you go. Like Toyota's Prius hybrid, there's a computer panel in the dashboard that tells you lots about your car, including how many miles your battery has left.

The home charging unit would take up to seven hours to charge your battery. A full charge would take you 100 miles, which is less than a tank of gas but more than most people drive in a day in Hawai'i. The plug-in will do up to 95 mph and will cost less than your fossil-fuel car to operate. The power will come from the Hawaiian Electric Co. grid. When that grid is finally converted to renewable sources —biodiesel, solar, wind, ocean energy, geothermal — these plug-ins will be fossil-free and we'll all be happy campers.

PLACES TO PLUG IN

For the home charging units, you need a 220-volt line. Most O'ahu commuters can top off that way, but how do you get a charge away from home? One way is to install charging stations in gas stations, shopping centers and parking lots. These would take up to 3 1/2 hours to charge your battery. Better Place would also like to install them curbside, but that would be politically problematic.

The second way is to build drive-in battery exchange stations, where you can have your depleted 500-pound battery swapped out for a fully charged one. Better Place says it has the systems to do that in three minutes, less time than it takes to fill your car at the pump. These exchange stations could also be installed in gas stations, shopping centers and parking lots, and would greatly expand the driving range of your plug-in.

LIKE A CELL-PHONE PLAN

You could buy a Nissan plug-in at a Nissan dealership. It will cost about $20,000 without the $10,000 battery, and you'll be able to finance or lease it like a fossil car. You won't have to pay for charging, but you'll have to sign up for a four-year mileage plan, like a cell-phone plan, which would include the "lease" of the battery. If you expect to drive 100 miles a day, you'll get a monthly plan for that. If you exceed your plan, you'll pay extra or increase the plan, possibly to an "all you can drive" plan. If you drive less, you'll reduce your plan. Better Place is only saying that the cost of these plans will be less than what we would pay for fossil fuel.

The whole thing runs on software. When you charge or swap your battery, it will handshake with Better Place's computer. It will identify the car and battery and check the level of your charge, how far you've driven (for billing) and the condition of your car (for maintenance). It will upload the data they need for their system, and download the data you need for your car, not unlike other synchronizations our computers have every day. HECO would know exactly how much power has been used at the charging station and would bill Better Place accordingly.

CELLULOSIC ETHANOL

We're way beyond Grandma's old Detroit Electric, circa 1908, and General Motors' destruction of electric cars (as in the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car") in the 1990s. Better lithium-ion batteries are being made in Asia. Drive trains have been computerized for better torque and handling. Plug-ins still cost more than fossil cars, but they have a certain appeal to car lovers.

Some say it's not time for plug-ins yet. Vinod Khosla, who runs a billion-dollar green fund (www.khoslaventures.com), favors cars on cellulosic ethanol. He invests in many green-car technologies but feels cellulosic ethanol is the most efficient, generates far fewer emissions and allows for the fastest market penetration because the cost of owning and operating the car is less than the cost of a hybrid or plug-in.

Khosla agrees that plug-ins will generate fewer emissions when the grid moves to renewable fuels, but that may take a while. He also feels that the cost of plug-ins will decrease as battery costs decrease, but that may take awhile, too. The market will ultimately determine which technology will prevail. The race will go to the technology that achieves the fastest penetration.

STILL MUCH TO DO

Better Place is building networks in Israel, Denmark and Australia. It has been here several times and is working on a plan for Hawai'i. It's talking about a systems interface with HECO and is hoping for an official nod from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. No agreement has been inked with HECO, and DBEDT has advised Better Place that it will not have an exclusive, and that its systems should be standardized to permit competition.

When will we see plug-ins here? Not right away. If Better Place goes ahead, it will do hiring and designing in 2009, installing and beta-testing in 2010, and marketing and sales in 2011, just in time for the rollout of the Nissan-Renault plug-in in 2011.

It has its work cut out for it. It'll have to finalize a deal with HECO. It'll have to get dealerships to bring in the cars and learn how to service them. And it'll have to get the public to buy in. It'll offer the cars to beta-testers first and then to the general public. After awhile, it will hit critical mass and general acceptance. Actually, electric cars are eligible for special license plates, free parking at meters, and exemption from HOV lane restrictions.

Pete Cooper, of Better Place, believes plug-in electric cars will be an important part of Hawai'i's renewable initiative. He is hoping they can lock in on their arrangements here by the end of this year. I hope they can, too. Not for them, but for us, not only because we love our cars, but because we love our environment.

Jay Fidell is a business lawyer practicing in Honolulu. He has followed tech and tech policy closely and is a founder of ThinkTech Hawaii. Check out his blog on The Advertiser site, www.HonoluluAdvertiser.com/Blogs