Meet Hawaii's first Nissan Leaf driver

We've reported on why we think that Hawaii is the ideal testing ground for electric vehicles (EVs) before, but it's worth rehashing now that the island is getting a fresh taste of plug-in power. In Hawaii, the limited range of a battery-powered car is not likely to be an issue, except maybe for some drivers on the Big Island. Furthermore, citizens of Hawaii are often at the forefront of ecological issues. Additionally, any price difference between a conventional car and an EV can be negated by Hawaii's sky-high gas prices. Finally, with an abundance of sunshine, Hawaii is ideally positioned to run EVs on solar power.

So, Hawaii and Tesla Roadsters battery-powered cars go together like, um, baseball and hot dogs? Or something like that. That's pretty much what Bill Markevitch, thinks, and he's officially become Hawaii's first owner of a Nissan Leaf, according to Plugin Cars. Since taking delivery of his electric hatch in late January, Markevitch has realized that he can easily drive "around the whole island on one charge." In fact, there's been times when Markevitch hasn't recharged his Leaf for three to four days.

Why did Markevitch buy a battery-powered car? Well, his decision was partly due to environmental concerns, but he ultimately choose to purchase the Leaf due to the fact that his home has been equipped with solar panels for years and he's thrilled that the electricity he's generating topside is powering his car. Makes total sense to us.

[Source: Plugin Cars]