According to Chair Robyn Denholm on Tuesday, Tesla Inc.’s electric vehicle (EV) sales in Australia are rapidly increasing after starting from a low foundation and are on track to overtake those of its Powerwall home batteries in the nation.
At the Australian Clean Energy Summit in Sydney, Denholm stated, “We now have more than 26,500 Teslas on Australian roads, and the momentum is there.
By the end of the year, she predicted, “I personally wouldn’t be surprised if we quadruple that amount.”
Around 1% of the 2.5 million Tesla EVs on the road worldwide as of the first quarter of 2022 are found in Australia. Just 2% of new automobile sales in Australia are electric vehicles.
In terms of energy, Australia is in a very special position because there are more Powerwalls erected there than there are Teslas, according to Denholm.
In Australia, the nation with the highest per capita rooftop solar adoption internationally, home batteries are popular to complement rooftop solar.
The absence of fast charging sites, according to Denholm, is the main barrier to EV adoption more quickly.
Transformers must be added to the grid in order to hasten the installation of fast charging stations, a process that, according to her, is extremely slow in Australia compared to the rest of the area.
“These chargers must be distributed right away. This is the crucial component for widespread EV adoption “Denholm remarked.
She asked the new Labor administration to implement car fuel emission requirements in order to promote the use of EVs and support infrastructure upgrades that are essential for the installation of charging stations and utility-scale energy storage.
She also reaffirmed the need for Australia to increase its capability for refining battery materials. Three-quarters of the lithium that Tesla requires for its batteries comes from Australia, but little of the higher-value material that goes into batteries is refined in that nation.
According to Denholm, “this entire business needs to scale at sprinting velocity.”
