Aki Marceau, former managing director for policy and community at Elemental Excelerator, is the new director of Electrification of Transportation at Hawaiian Electric. She will lead and coordinate the work to advance fossil-fuel free transportation solutions across the company’s five-island service territory.
“Aki Marceau brings expertise and enthusiasm to the mission of reducing our state’s carbon footprint through clean transportation,” said Scott Seu, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric. “Building on our ‘Electrification of Transportation Strategic Roadmap,’ we’re looking to Aki to accelerate our efforts to build public support for the infrastructure that’s needed to ensure our community has reliable and practical clean transportation options beyond just personal vehicles.”
Elemental Excelerator, Marceu’s previous company, is a global nonprofit accelerator based in Hawaii that has supported more than 99 startups working on solutions to climate change. Before that, she was sustainability and land use manager for the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation.
“As our electric grid becomes cleaner, we have an opportunity to make our buses, bikes, cars, and even airplanes greener,” said Marceau. “I look forward to working closely with many of our community members to ensure this transition happens in a way that makes Hawaii more resilient.”
Marceau is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners. She serves on the City & County of Honolulu Planning Commission and has chaired the Sustainable Transportation Coalition of Hawaii (STCH), a U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities Program that works to reduce fossil-fuel dependence in ground transportation. She also serves on the executive board of Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE), a forum for professional women focused on creating a sustainable Hawaii powered by clean energy.
She has a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from Haverford College and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University.
Hawaiian Electric has a long history of promoting electric mobility. Soon after it was founded in 1891, the company advertised to encourage Hawaii’s first auto buyers to own electric vehicles. More recently, Hawaiian Electric has:
- Installed publicly accessible fast-chargers — utility-owned and operated — to encourage people to drive electric, including apartment dwellers;
- Created discount electric vehicle charging rates for residents and businesses to promote daytime charging using excess solar power from private, rooftop solar generation;
- Advocated for incentives to encourage purchase of electric vehicles and charging equipment; supported requirements for parking lots and structures to reserve spaces with chargers for electric vehicles.
- Organized Drive Electric Hawaii, a consortium of environmental and energy organizations, government agencies and all the state’s electric companies; and organized an eBus Working Group of government and private bus fleet operators to encourage adoption of electric municipal, school and tourist buses.