EV

Not quite to infinity, but certainly to long-range, and beyond. Former Dutch competitor in Australia’s World Solar Challenge, Lightyear has launched the world’s first long-range solar EV prototype, a potential solution to the perennial EV problem of range anxiety.

The City of Adelaide is going big on technology for low-carbon living. It has announced a new round of incentives for solar, bidirectional EV charging infrastructure, energy storage and controlled load under its Sustainability Incentives Scheme.

Mining company Neometals and Manikaran Power have started a jointly funded study into the feasibility of establishing India’s first lithium refinery, which would process ore from the Mount Marion mine in Western Australia.

The International Energy Agency says more than 2 million electric vehicles hit the road last year, to take the total to more than 5 million. The agency has stressed the importance of public policy, charging infrastructure and a fall in costs for continued EV uptake, and says up to 43 million EVs could be sold in 2030.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has estimated the effect on the payback period of PV systems when adding EVs and storage in Germany and Britain. In both cases, system owners are likely to reduce their payback period by significant margins as increased self-consumption can offset the incremental phase out of government incentives.

A total of 238,000 advanced meters will be installed by Western Power on the South West Interconnected System over the next three years, unlocking the benefits of the technology that gives consumers more control over their energy use. In another rollout, Horizon Power has made paying for power easier for 11 Aboriginal communities across regional WA.

The EV, energy storage and solar company deployed only 47 MW of solar during Q1, as Tesla moves away from traditional sales methods towards web-based sales for its products.

Coming hot on the heels of major reports and a heated public debate about electric vehicles, a poll commissioned by the Climate Council confirms Australians believe electric cars are the future. Another poll, by The Australia Institute, has 50% of Australian voters supporting all car sales being electric by 2025.

Significant progress has been reported on the feasibility study which aims to progress the establishment of a 15 GWh lithium-ion battery factory in Townsville. The study is conducted by the Imperium3 Townsville consortium.

A new major aspect of Labor’s climate policy announcement on Monday was a national electric vehicle (EV) target with half of the cars on the Australian roads to be electric by 2030, and fuel emissions standards for all vehicles.