Maui Electric Co. and a California manufacturer of electric vehicles signed an accord yesterday allowing the utility to test the durability of new battery-powered pickup trucks.

Ontario, Calif.-based Phoenix Motorcars will provide 20 to 30 of the vehicles to Maui Electric by March in order to test battery technologies that use a “;nano titanite”; system. It will be the first such test in the nation for Phoenix vehicles.

“;Electric vehicles will be less expensive to run and emit less total carbon dioxide than the same vehicle run on gasoline,”; Ed Reinhardt, president of Maui Electric, said at a news conference. “;The numbers are even better when the power comes from renewable sources, and that's what we hope to do.”;

Gov. Linda Lingle called the accord a significant step toward making Hawaii far more reliant on renewable sources of electricity.

In stressing that next year's legislative session will be crucial if the state is to make progress on energy independence, the governor said she might offer proposals that both provide incentives and set mandates.

“;Nobody likes to hear about mandates,”; she said, pointing out that the major U.S. automobile manufacturers repeatedly argued against government requirements on fuel efficiency.

“;By nature, I'm a free-market person ... but there comes a time where we just can't leave it to chance and we can't just leave it to the market alone,”; she said.

The six-month test on Maui will also determine how the trucks interact with the island's electricity grid when they are recharging, as well as the devices used to connect the vehicles to an electrical source.