Richard bought his Tesla 18 months ago and he says it’s a fantastic car to drive. While his old car was costing him a substantial amount in repairs and petrol, Richard is now able to charge his car at home with solar. He decided to upgrade to an electric car after crunching the numbers and determining an EV would only cost an extra $30 a week.

“Electric cars don’t need servicing. I haven’t spent a cent on petrol either because I have a large solar and battery system at home. It’s just seamless,” said Richard.

“It’s a really, really good experience. It’s also one of the safest cars on the road. The range on this one can go about 350km on a single charge. There is charging infrastructure to see you to places like Cairns and Mackay. When you talk about next gen technology, this is certainly it. Once you’ve driven one there’s no going back.”

Sylvia invested in battery storage in November last year to add to her newly expanded 5kW solar system. Adding more solar panels and battery storage meant that her electricity usage in January this year was half that of January 2020.

“There were two main reasons I got a battery. The first one was that I wanted something for cyclone season when the power goes off. The second was because I was looking at my system and it was putting a lot of power back into the grid, and I thought: this is silly, I put it in during the daytime and then buy it back at night.”

Michael, a local paramedic, purchased an electric vehicle because he’s concerned about the health impacts of car pollution. 

“Buying an electric vehicle was an opportunity for me to make a contribution to the health of my community, and the health of the planet,” said Michael. 

“My wife and I bought this car in October 2019, and we’re very happy with it. We can drive to Cairns on a single charge, but also enjoy stopping off in Tully to charge up halfway.

“It is very zippy around town with immediate acceleration.

“Driving 500kms costs at most $12 and it costs nothing if we’re able to charge entirely off our solar panels.”