Hawaii's first Tesla Supercharger may be built on Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison's island that only has 30 miles of paved roads
Larry Ellison, a Tesla board member, wants the 140 square mile island of Lanai to be a tourist destination and an experiment in sustainability.
Reuters
- Hawaii's first Tesla Supercharger might not be built in a city like Honolulu or Kailua, but rather on a tiny island owned largely by Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison.
- Tesla applied for a permit to build a Supercharger on Lanai, a small island with around 3,200 residents that the tech magnate bought 98% of in 2012, Electrek reported.
- Lanai has only 30 miles of paved roads and no stoplights.
- Ellison, a Tesla board member, moved to the island recently and wants to turn it into an environmentally sustainable tourist destination.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison revealed plans to move from Silicon Valley to his island of Lanai, Hawaii, earlier this month. And not only will the island be getting a new full-time resident, but it may also get the state's first Tesla Supercharger charging station.
The electric-vehicle maker recently applied for a permit in Maui county to construct a new Supercharger in Lanai City, the population center of the island that Ellison mostly owns, the electric-car website Electrek first reported.
The smallest of Hawaii's inhabited islands, Lanai has roughly 3,200 residents, only 30 miles of paved roads, 400 miles of unpaved roads, and not a single stoplight. Theoretically, one could cover nearly every inch of the island's roads on a single charge of a Model S Long Range Plus, which has an EPA-estimated range of 402 miles.
Ellison, who sits on Tesla's board and has a net worth of roughly $88 billion according to Forbes, purchased 98% of the island - 87,000 acres - for a reported $300 million in 2012. The tech magnate wants to turn Lanai into a tourist destination and an experiment in environmental sustainability, and a Supercharger could help with both of those ambitions.
Lanai's Four Seasons Resorts, owned by Ellison, use Tesla Model X crossovers to ferry visitors around the island as well as to and from the airport. And Ellison's wellness company, Sensei, operates hydroponic farms powered by 1,600 Tesla solar panels, according to Forbes.
According to The New York Times, Ellison aims to create "the first economically viable, 100 percent green community" - one that is self-sufficient, powered by renewable energy, and fed by sustainable agriculture. Not counting the island's initial purchase, he has spent roughly half a billion dollars on the endeavor so far.
The tiny island appears closer to getting a Supercharger than any of Hawaii's more densely populated areas like Honolulu and Kailua, although the automaker plans to construct Superchargers in those places, according to its website. It also plans to build one in Anchorage.
Tesla now operates Superchargers in all 48 continental US states, having added stations in North Dakota last summer.