Labor’s plan for an Australia powered solely by renewable energy is simply untenable. We are in for a future of electricity and fuel shortages.

Anthony Albanese was asked about the future of green energy just before he became Prime Minister. He told journalists:

“What does the future look like? And the future in many ways can be here right now. It’s solar panels on the roof, charging your vehicle for free overnight. That’s what it looks like. That’s what it looks like.”

Someone needs to tell the Prime Minister that the future is in no way “here right now”. It can’t be here right now. If the future is here right now it’s the present, not the future.

And if the future is today, then tomorrow the future will be the past.

Honestly, I think a five-watt globe is brighter than the PM sometimes.

In the Dark

His comments on today being the future make about as much sense as his enthusiasm for using solar panels to charge your car overnight.

Someone needs to tell the Prime Minister that it’s dark at night. Even on a clear night, there’s no sun to power anything. Solar panels don’t work in the dark.

Perhaps the Prime Minister will extend daylight savings so we can power our Teslas?

Is lunar power about to be invented? Maybe the next generation of EVs will run on moon rays!

Okay, okay, I’m being facetious. Let’s get serious.

Unrealistic

What if the solar panels on your roof are charging a battery during the day that then charges your car overnight? That could work.

Except that you’d need solar panels on your roof and on five of your neighbour’s roofs to power up the $65,000 Tesla that you can’t afford because you lost your job due to government vaccine mandates.

And what’s charging your refrigerator while all your solar panels are charging the battery that charges your car while it basks in the moonlight?

By the way, how does this work if you live in a block of flats? Will there be enough solar panels and battery storage for all residents to charge their EVs?

And what if you live in a tent? #askingforafriend

Impractical

Honestly, the future isn’t as good as it used to be.

It is free, though. Right? He did say you’d be powering up your car for free.

Question…

If you’re using the solar panels on your neighbours’ roofs to charge your car for free, does that mean the electricity powering your fridge, your lights, and your air-con is also free?

Does all of this mean that if you own an EV, you can go off the grid?

If any of this does work, the future — which is not today — looks like you regularly reporting how many kilometres you have driven in your eco-friendly, overnight charged electric vehicle so that the government can tax you.

EV owners with cars registered in Victoria have to send the state’s road authority a photo of their odometer readings to comply with the EV road tax.

Electric owners in Victoria are being slugged a tax of 2.5 cents per kilometre, meaning an annual bill of $375 for cars that travel around 15,000kms a year, and around $750 for electric cars that travel double that — if the solar panels on your roof will allow it.

But at least it’s free.

Any EV owner who does not comply with the request risks having their overnight powered car’s registration cancelled or suspended, or, ominously, something else.

VicRoads advised EV owners earlier in the year:

“Failure to comply may result in your vehicle registration being suspended or cancelled, or other penalties.”

We can only hope “other penalties” does not mean being forced to listen to the PM talk about the future.

Speaking of the future, the International Energy Agency has predicted a worldwide lithium shortage by 2025. They have also said there are not enough global lithium deposits to power anywhere near the number of cars that would be required to replace internal combustion engines.

What does the future look like? It looks like you and I are keeping a bus timetable handy!

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Originally published at The James Macpherson Report.

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Photo: Alex Ellinghausen / The Sydney Morning Herald