ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
Popular entrepreneur Elon Musk revealed his plans to partner with the South Australian government to build the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to secure the state’s power going into the future.
The Telsa founder also agreed to build the project within 100 days or else it’s free.
However, the Turnbull Government has urged Musk to consider using a more ‘proven’ form of battery power, namely alkaline batteries – which have powered Australia’s television remotes and Christmas toys for generations.
During high-talks with the South African-born business giant, Malcolm Turnbull explained to Musk that Australians feel more comfortable with more traditional energy systems and generators such as coal and gas.
“I just wanted to tell him about some possible alternatives, alternatives that are both cheaper, better and more popular with everyday Australians,” said Turnbull.
“I saw the other day in my local Thomas Dux that you can get a 10-pack of Duracell 9V batteries for $29. That is a huge bargain in my opinion, which got me thinking. Are these expensive lithium-ion batteries really worth it?”
But the gumptious Cancerian hit back at the Prime Minister, saying that building a ‘PowerPack’ facility capable of producing 129 megawatt-hours of on-demand power such as the one he plans on creating, would take nearly 17 million AAA batteries [an hour] to keep up.
An environmental disaster waiting to happen says Musk.
“It’s not like you can just steal the batteries out of your brother’s Xbox controller when the TV remote goes flat,” he said.
“Using alkaline batteries in this project would not be cost effective. It would also be bad for the environment, much worse than a coal plant. You’d basically have to build a battery-producing factory beside the PowerPack, it’s just insanity,”
“But we’re talking about renewable energy in Australia so anything isn’t too far from the abusrd.”
More to come.
