In the near future, Hawaii will provide car battery exchange stations for electric vehicles. Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle announced the partnership with Better Place, which will handle the entire project.

The stations feature an automated system that swaps out exhausted lithium ion car batteries for fully-charged ones, allowing drivers with electric vehicles to be on their ways in just a few minutes. The swapping system was developed to serve the best interests of both drivers and local electric companies, as Better Place is able to recharge the exhausted batteries with the excess electricity generated from renewable sources during off-peak electricity hours.

"Hawaii, with its ready access to renewable energy resources like solar, wind, wave, and geothermal, is the ideal location to serve as a blueprint for the rest of the U.S. in terms of reducing our dependence on foreign oil, growing our renewable energy portfolio and creating an infrastructure that will stabilize our economy," explained Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place.

The plan will demand 4 years of intense efforts, with Better Place pulling the permits for its stations in 2009, offer electric cars within 18 months, and both stations and cars will become available for the mass-market by 2012.

In November, the mayors of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland also announced that they too will partner with Better Place, for a series of initiatives that are expected to make the region the electric vehicle capital of the U.S. by 2012. These projects are expected to serve as examples for the entire country and slowly spread the necessary trend all across the US.