Two bills recently passed by the Democratic-controlled Hawaii Legislature are aimed at building a statewide network of electric car charging stations. The bills provide $45 million to support the construction of the network and require large parking garages to set aside space for electric vehicles.

If successful, the project could revolutionize transportation and greatly reduce fuel consumption in the state:

"I'm excited about what this means for Hawaii," said Pete Cooper, of Better Place Hawaii. "This technology moves us closer to realizing the environmental and economic benefits of electrical vehicles : clean transportation using our state's natural, renewable sources of energy instead of imported fossil fuels."

As envisioned, Hawaii would be home to at least 3,000 electric cars in 2010 and 50,400 in 2015. By then the isles also would be outfitted with a network of up to 100,000 charging stations powered by renewable energy sources.

These charging stations could be in homes, parking garages and shopping centers, along a curbside or wall without taking up a lot of room. Battery-swapping stations, like the one in Yokohama, would require more real estate and ideally be near a gas station.

Hawaii is an ideal place to test the viability of such a system because many of the early drawbacks of the technology simply don’t apply in the state. For instance, the state’s compactness and island geography mean that the electric vehicles’ 100 mile range is not an issue for drivers. And because the U.S. Energy Department ranks Hawaii as a top-ten user of renewable energy (PDF warning), more of the electricity used to power the vehicles will come from truly clean sources.