The Future Is Now – Solar Citizens Sausage Sizzle Political Protest

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Solar Citizens is a renewable energy lobby group with passion and intellect! With a federal election just days away in Australia, they coud not resist staging an event promoting renewable energy and electric vehicles. The “Future is Now” event was held in the seat of Dickson, currently held by a small margin by the opposition leader, Peter Dutton. 

Mr Dutton is promoting the building of nuclear reactors throughout Australia and also rolling back the recently introduced fuel efficiency standards. He is silent on any support for home batteries. If his party wins the election, it will create a major slowdown in the current progress of renewable energy and the uptake of EVs. His party has openly admitted that their nuclear proposal is actually a proposal to support aging coal-fired power stations to continue. A glow-in-the-dark smoke screen. 

The importance of this election cannot be underestimated, one party is promoting clean air and clean energy through renewables coupled with home batteries and fuel-efficient cars, the other will prolong the use of gas and coal with nuclear power on the never, never. They are even offering a petrol discount to help people stay with their fossil-fueled cars.

The event was attended by guest speakers who are experts in their respective fields. One of these gave his response to Mr Dutton’s discount. Thank you, Adjunct Professor Jake Whitehead, chief scientist at the Electric Vehicle Council. With EVs, you pay even less to fuel your car. Twenty-five cents of electricity can drive your car as far as $1.50 worth of petrol. You can watch the video here.

Peter Kilby, senior grid transformation engineer for Energex, touched on Queensland’s success integrating among the world’s highest penetrations of rooftop solar, the imminent availability of bidirectional EV charging and its potential to build on our solar success, and the many exciting career opportunities in the electrical and renewables sector. Despite the distraction of the BYD cooking onions, Peter managed to hold the crowd with his passion and honesty about the opportunity that EVs and batteries and solar offer to the community.

Mr Eddie Springer, Director of Springer Solar, also presented. I had the pleasure of meeting with the Springer family for an interview a few years back when they installed a high-speed charger at a local servo. Since then, they have gone from strength to strength. You can read about Springer’s recent projects here.

Ellie Smith, independent candidate for Dickson, was there to spread the word and have some fun. Here she is being interviewed by Heidi Douglas, National Director and CEO of Solar Citizens, about affordable home batteries. Ellie points out that over 64% of households in Dickson have solar on the roof. They are in a difficult position, where they are selling their solar electricity cheaply to the grid in the middle of day and having to buy electricity in the evenings when it is expensive (and likely to be generated by fossil fuels). A home battery would solve that problem and also give resilience in storm season. Ellie is supporting a home battery subsidy for that reason. 

I was interviewed by Heidi about the BYD shark, and I hope to share that video with you in future. Meanwhile, here is a photo Majella took showing the Shark in company with Ford’s F150 Lightning! Speakers shared information about energy efficiency and how to reduce your household bills, experts answered questions about all things electric.

Scores of locals wandered through the 26 parked electric vehicles. The MG club actually showed up with their classic vehicles. Altogether there were 8 BYDs, 6 Teslas, 3 MG 4s, 2 Konas, 2 ORAs, 2 Volvos, a Polestar, an Ioniq 5, an Ioniq 6, a Renault Megane eTech, a Shark, and a Ford F 150 Lightning. And let’s not forget the veterans, 2 Mitsubishi iMievs.

Local organizer Phillipa England intrigued us with her email teaser: “Want to know what’s coming onto the market and how much money batteries – on wheels and in your home – can save you? Still got questions about EVs? Then, join us to talk with industry professionals about what’s trending in electric vehicles; tips and traps when buying a household battery; how Energex is transforming the grid to accommodate household energy and how you can get in on the action.”

As the BYDs powered the BBQ, EV owners answered questions from the public milling about our cars, networked with other EV drivers and enjoyed a sausage on a blanket. Sadly, we got some negative blowback from a recent Channel 7 documentary about poor working conditions in a nickel mine in Indonesia. Investigation showed that the nickel was not battery-grade and so was used to make stainless steel. However, the message that cut through was that electric vehicle owners should be ashamed of themselves for buying an EV. The rebuttals have not cut through the media FUD.

One great conversation was with a couple who said that they had AU$46k to spend, so what could they afford to buy? After explaining that we weren’t dealers, we then talked to them about the MG 4, the Dolphin, and the Great Wall ORA which were sitting there on display. There were the usual questions about when and where we charge, particularly on road trips. And the usual answers about needing to stop to go the loo and to eat. “Oh, you time your charging to the rest breaks!” What seems obvious to us comes as a revelation to the uninitiated. Majella was in her element, showing the interested groups through the Plugshare app.

I wandered about in my CleanTechnica t-shirt, handing out business cards and collecting stories for future articles. 

With lobby groups like Solar Citizens challenging all politicians to step in, the energy future for Australians looks bright, powered by batteries filled with solar and transported by electric vehicles.