I'm so glad that I stumbled across this thread! We are in HNL later this month, and renting our first electric via TURO (also for the first time). I picked someone that had a lot of reviews and seems to have a mini fleet of said cars.
Most of our concerns have to do with availability of charging stations across the island (North Shore, Kualoa, etc), and the process of using these charging stations. Can we pay by credit card, or is there a prepay method? Are the stations frequent enough that we won't find ourselves drained if we're sitting in traffic for an hour?
TIA
Hi Trixi Mouse!
Welcome to the electric car community! I'm not sure what specific brand you are renting through Turo, so I will try to be general. (Also, Turo is great and a completely legit rental co. They also have amazing customer service.) First of all, the cool thing about electric cars is that the battery does not "drain" when sitting idle in traffic. (Which I know is really hard to wrap your head around vs. gas cars.)
I would like to share with you an excellent website:
https://www.plugshare.com/
This is a great resource. It lists all the chargers everywhere around the world. (Although I will not vouch for its accuracy in other countries; however, since it's a site that people belong & contribute to -like the disboards- I have a feeling the info throughout the world is pretty accurate, as people are constantly relying on the info & updating the info.) We've used this website for all across the US (including a road trip from DC to WDW in our electric car) and Canada.
This website will show you the chargers all throughout the island. To show you how it works, type in "Aulani" in the search bar on the top left and clicked on the green pin. As you can see:
1) Aulani has a perfect 10 rating - which I interpret it to mean that all the chargers work. If a place has a low rating, there's a good chance that its charger(s) doesn't work and charge somewhere else!
2) There are 12 chargers: Parking garage 1, closest stalls to the elevator on two floors. 12 Chargers; Spaces 250-254, 393-397, and 498-499.
3) Phone #s, address, & info. It does mention that you have to "pay" but it's because it's in Aulani's parking garage. Looks like it's complimentary (although if you are not a DVC member staying on pts, you have to pay for parking so I guess it's not truly complimentary). (There's no such thing as free lunch!)
3) 32 check-ins (meaning that 32 people who use the website & decided to post have checked in). Keep in mind that MANY more ppl have charged in these stations - for instance, my husband & I use this website often, but we NEVER check in. Some people left some comments - how many miles they got per hour or charge; etc. Someone mentioned/confirmed that it's free for DVC members.
4) This is a chargepoint station (someone mentioned it in the comments, but it also says it in the info box under "Chargers"). It has a J-1772 plug. Check with your rental information, as Turo should tell you what TYPE of charger the car requires. If the car doesn't have this specific charger, Turo should tell you whether or not they will provide you with an ADAPTER. My guess is that they will, as this is a pretty common type or charger.
It is a good idea for your to create a chargepoint account:
https://www.chargepoint.com/
Especially since chargepoint is the most common type of electric charger that you will see in parking garages, etc.
You will still need to log into the chargepoint account at the resort when you plug in your car at Aulani. It will not charge you. (There may be a credit card hold, but it should go away.)
A lot of public stations are free - and the plugshare website will note that - if not, you usually pay via an app-based company (like chargepoint). Let me know if you're renting a Tesla because Teslas are a little bit more unique since there are supercharging stations specific to Tesla (that non-Teslas cannot use).
One of the most common questions we get from non-electric car drivers is, "Do you ever run out of battery/charge?" To which our answer is, "Do you ever run out of gas?" I hope the answer is NO! Turo should tell you what your RANGE is on the car. Your car will tell you how much battery or range it is has - which can be displayed as a %age or as miles. Just like a gas car tells you if you're at Empty or Full. Our Tesla's max range is 320 miles (although we usually max charge to 285 miles to preserve the battery) .... and I assure you that's enough to go around the island MANY MANY times. For instance, simply Google-mapping Aulani to Diamond Head = 29.9 miles. Round up in case you get a little lost or do a side trip for some malasadas at Leonard's - I would say 40 miles to be safe. That means you'll need 80 miles of range round trip to go to Diamond Head and back to Aulani. Even with a Nissan Leaf (2019), a Nissan Leaf's range is 150-226 miles (based on Google). That means that, even on the lower end of that range (150), you could go to Diamond Head round trip 2x from Aulani! However, say you do get to Diamond Head and you don't have 40 miles to go back to the resort. Based on Plugshare, you can go to the Kahala Mall and charge for free (2 Volta chargers by Whole Foods) or go one of many chargers in Waikiki. Look at all that green!
The nice thing about having a charger at your house, or in this case Aulani, is that you can plug in when you arrive on property & have your car fully charged and ready to go when you wake up. This is like living in a gas station! PSA: As a courtesy to other electric car drivers, please don't plug in or sit in a spot if/when you are fully charged. Think of it as parking in front of a gas station pump and not pumping gas. Some electric cars may really need to plug in and you don't want to block them from their opp to fill up! Plus, karma...
Let me know if you have any more questions. I assure you that electric cars aren't that much different lifestyle-wise than gas cars. It is true that on long road trips (over 4+ hours), you do need to spend more time charging. I can only speak to Tesla, as that's what we have and we've done MANY road trips with. With a Tesla, charging the Tesla at Tesla superchargers from empty to full is normally 20-30 min for us. Usually by the time we have to charge (every 3-4 hours), we typically have to go to the bathroom or want to grab some food. The 20-30 min additional time on our road trip is not that noticeable. The pros to it are: 1) Tesla tells you where the superchargers are so we never have to question "where's the cheapest gas station?," "should we go to the one on this exit?" and we 2) also don't have to inhale gas fumes or touch gas anymore!!! It's so much cleaner! Not to mention, the best reason.... 3) the pick-up of the car is absolutely FUN. Think Disney roller coasters every day!