Sunday Age letter-writers give their opinions on Tesla

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etters in the Sunday Age of May 17 give us some views, correct or otherwise, on Tesla developments.

 

Renewable energy: Local manufacturers are being left high and dry

US company Tesla has just released a battery pack system for domestic use ("Why Tesla's battery is a big deal", 10/5). What is now becoming increasingly apparent is that with the government's championing of coal at the expense of renewable technologies, we are backing an inefficient, outdated and dirty energy source. As industrialised countries the world over embrace clean energy technologies (in Germany, 30 per cent of power comes from renewable sources), Australia will be left behind, potentially with stranded assets. We'll also have missed out on opportunities in the expanding new industry, with manufacturers placed at risk due to a lack of willingness by government to resolve the furore over the renewable energy target and look to a clean energy future.

Dennis O'Connell, Ivanhoe.

 

Tesla battery hoopla falls flat

Unfortunately, the 10Kw Tesla battery is only warrantied for 50 cycles and so of little use beyond 50 days of solar charging, although handy if there is a blackout. The smaller "7Kw" has also been canned by executives of Tesla's associate company, the panel installer Solar City, who say it is "unsuitable" for solar storage. This is mildly astonishing as Tesla's chairman, Elon Musk, is also chairman of Solar City. The problem is that due to lithium's high energy density but poor staying power, Li batteries run down after a few hours. No good for the freezer or today's watt-hungry TVs. The household still must be on the grid and in the US grid power is half the price of here.

Meanwhile, an Australian flow battery about to be mass produced in Mexico has been cycling every day for three years without fail and produces steady, consistent current. It can be fully discharged and then fully recharged to supply current almost ad infinitum. So it remains disappointing that while Australia has long led in this field, with our technology lauded offshore, local inventors find it near impossible to get their product manufactured locally. The Vanadium Redox flow battery, for example, is now well established in China but, like current flat panel solar technology, had its origins at the University of NSW. In contrast to the Tesla hoopla, our zinc bromine flow battery looks a dull work-horse, but it works.

Richard Campbell, Toorak.

 

Sold short by feed-in tariffs

The Sunday Age (10/5) had three significant contributions about solar power; the first applauded Germany's renewable energy progress, the second highlighted power storage, while the editorial reminded us of how far behind environmentally are the Coalition and Labor. The Coalition's policy is to ignore global warming by supporting coal mining and coal-powered electricity generation. My partner and I, pensioners, have used solar power for 20years and were finally rewarded with a feed-in tariff of 66 cents per kw hour. However, when we downsized to a new house in the country the tariff was cut to 6.2 cents. Our smart meter informs us that we export three times more solar energy into the grid than we take from it. We are paid 6.2 cents and have to pay 30 cents. We, and Australians, are being ripped off. It seems that, like Germany, we need more green representatives in government. 

Brian Moynihan, Castlemaine.