A new report shows that the Hawaiʻi drivers who use the most gasoline travel almost five times farther than the state's average driver.
Gasoline “superusers” drive about 111 miles per day on average, compared to 23 miles traveled by non-superusers, according to a report by Ulupono Initiative and the national nonprofit Coltura.
The report defines superusers as the 10% of drivers in the U.S. who use the most gasoline. In Hawaiʻi, about 7% of drivers — 65,000 — are considered superusers, consuming about 26% of the state's gasoline.
The report profiled and interviewed some local superusers, like Janelle Glorioso, a driver for Instacart in Mountain View on Hawaiʻi island. Glorioso said she drives her 2009 Toyota Corolla more than 200 miles between Hilo and Kona every day to deliver groceries for work.
“I’ve had my vehicle for a month and a half, and I put on 4,000 miles already… I spend way too much on gas, and it seems like the gas burns and it burns and it burns,” she said in the report.
More than 30% of superusers make at least $150,000. Although more than 20% of superusers make less than $50,000 per year, the report found. It said wealthier drivers may care less about high gas prices, but low-income drivers might have limited access to fuel-efficient vehicles, use their vehicles to drive a lot for work, or both.
“What we find is that people aren't driving around, just driving for the heck of it. They're driving because they need to,” said Coltura founder Matthew Metz.
Those with lower education levels are also overrepresented among superusers. So are those of Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Hispanic descent.
Hawaiʻi Island has the highest concentration of superusers in the state, with more than 14% of drivers falling into that category. It also has the highest number of rural superusers of any county in the country — 19,600.
Ulupono and Coltura, which both advocate for renewable energy and reduced gasoline usage, said the report suggests that there needs to be more targeted incentives to get the top gasoline users to switch to electric vehicles.
Kathleen Rooney, Ulupono’s director of transportation policy and programs, said, “For every person who's a superuser that we can get into an EV, that's worth five EVs from the general population. I mean, that's a really efficient way of helping support a major transformation.”
Metz said more incentives to buy electric vehicles, including an EV credit, could help. Hawaiʻi doesn’t offer an EV incentive, but he said that other states offer credits ranging from $3,000 to $9,000 — in addition to the $7,500 federal credit.
The report also suggests targeted outreach and better infrastructure development to move superusers into EVs.
