We had been in Adelaide, South Australia for many years, living with no clothes dryer. Initially this was a bit of an adjustment having previously lived in the U.S. where a clothes dryer seems to be about as ubiquitous and vital as a car. However, for us a clothes line and abundant Adelaide sun (at least 10 months of 12) was mostly adequate.

I had been resistant to purchasing a clothes dryer due to their high energy use, costs, and our limited need. But, an extensive home renovation finally made it to the laundry room and we had an opportunity to include a dryer. Heat pump driers were fairly expensive at the time, but I reasoned that the minimal energy use would make up the difference over time.

Outfitting the laundry room for a heat pump dryer is fairly straightforward. The dryer does not vent hot, humid air, but rather recycles the warm air internally and drains water into an onboard tank or drain. I opted to plumb the drain into the laundry sink/tub trap, which only requires a second dishwasher connection (assuming the first is used by your washing machine), at least that’s how we do it down here.

The dryer has been around and used extensively over the past eight years over which time it’s proven reliable, been cheap to run, and hasn’t had any major issues.

Downsides? It takes a while to dry clothes, especially a large load of wet towels. Aside from that, it’s quite heavy. In the last house I had the dryer stacked and bolted on top of the matching washing machine, and manoeuvring the two into the built-in laundry joinery wasn’t fun. These days the two are side by side and the weight isn’t an issue.

Our 2004 Prius (purchased used in 2012) had been fairly reliable, but its age was showing and many electronic components were successively failing. A 12V coolant pump, the original 12V battery (which has an impressive 14 year service life), the clock spring in the steering wheel, the LED taillights, and the list goes on. None of this was catastrophic, but it was annoying and we were at a decision point: keep chasing the small failures and hope nothing too expensive goes, or call time and replace the car.

This was in 2021 and the Tesla Model 3 was new to Australia. We test drove a Model 3 SR+ (standard range plus), and ended up ordering a red one. It was quite expensive, but was in the time when Tesla was known for promoting EVs and technology and it was exciting.

When we ordered the Tesla they couldn’t tell us exactly what was going to arrive: a pre-update Model 3 with an NCA battery, or the updated car with CATL LFP prismatic cells. They did give us the option of re-ordering in the next shipment which would be updated LFP cars, but the COVID shipping delays meant they couldn’t provide an estimated delivery date. We kept the initial order and ended up with a one-month-only Model 3 that’s a mix of pre and post update parts with highlights such as the old drive motor, an LFP battery, half of the windows double-glazed, an Intel Atom-based MCU2 instead of the updated AMD Ryzen-based MCU3 unit, the previous (faster) 0-100 time, and the previous (shorter) range of the NCA car. I also initially added the $500AUD heated rear seat option, which they refunded and included as standard equipment on the car delivered.

Prior to purchase I looked at a few options, but in 2021 they were quite limited. The only real alternative considered was a not-yet-available Ioniq 5. It would have been larger, more expensive, and more unknown. All of that considered, I didn’t move beyond initial research and settled on the Tesla.

The Model 3, now five years on and with about 50,000km was and still is a great car, but the association with unfortunate and surprisingly persistent bigotry, racism, sexism and hate exposed over there is deeply disappointing. We’ve considered replacing the Tesla with something else, but that’s a very expensive prospect, and despite the availability of a lot of good EV options, none are a significant enough improvement to justify the expense, for now.

I cannot see a likely scenario where I would consider anything but another EV. Charging and range are a non-issue, and seem to be mostly talked about by those without real experience (or maybe Nissan Leaf drivers). There are certainly outliers¹³ here, but none of this has been an issue for us in the Tesla over the past five years. That said, I will not be purchasing another Tesla. There are numerous other good EV options out there, and most don’t have the baggage.

Our 1974 house (purchased used in 2021) came with a the original gas heat, an underfloor ducted system. The heater didn’t heat the house well (a fundamental flaw), cost quite a lot to run, and was clearly overdue for replacement. I looked at several options, and chose a Daikin ducted and zoned heat pump that could provide not only heat, but also A/C.

The house also had, and still has, a ducted evaporative cooler. This system is contained within the attic/roof cavity with ducts through the ceilings. The new heat pump is installed underfloor in the crawlspace with ducts through the floor. This underfloor arrangement seemed to be a challenge for some installers quoting the system, but it seems to be due to a lack of familiarity and not much else.

I choose the installer based not only on their quote, but the questions they asked, the level of detail in their plans, and their responses to my questions. Incidentally, they were the highest quote by a reasonable margin. The installation included removal of the old heater, an asbestos flue, and the original ducts. The new system needed larger diameter ducts, a couple additional ducts, and about 10km of cabling and refrigeration lines (that’s an exaggeration, BTW). I had the compressor located at a far corner of the house and mounted on the ground to minimise noise and vibrations inside the house. We had some wall-mounted heat pumps on the old house that would reverberate through the house and I wanted to avoid that this time.

The two systems (heat pump and evaporative cooler) complement each other well. The evaporative cooler cools effectively in low humidity, which is most of the warmer months in Melbourne, but falls short in high humidity or on extreme heat days, perhaps above 40C. The heat pump cools well in all conditions, but does so using apx. 10x the energy of the evaporative cooler. I don’t have any data to provide, but monitoring energy use shows the evaporative cooler pulls a constant ~200-500W (depending on fan speed) compared to the 2-16kW (it usually cycles between 2-4kW) of the heat pump. This isn’t a big deal if it’s sunny out and the panels are producing their 5kW, but I generally prefer the open windows and breeze from the evaporative system.

The quoting, removal of the old system, and installation of the new were fairly complex and disruptive. And, as I mentioned before, quite expensive. Think small car or S-Works Tarmac SL9 expensive. For that reason, I’d give this step some careful thought before beginning.

Despite the difficulty and cost, the heat pump has been great. It’s been trouble free in the three years since installation. I don’t use the zoning as much as I thought I would, but otherwise it has worked as expected. No regrets with this one.

If it wasn’t clear from my recent post about bicycle drivetrains, I have a lot of bikes, and it would be pretty foolish to try to argue that I needed another one. However, this one was pretty cheap. That’s it. I don’t have any other justification.

So, what about this 2022 Momentum Transcend? The specs aren’t too impressive, and neither is the range. This ebike is really from an earlier era and was discounted for a reason. But, despite this, it’s been very handy and has significantly reduced my reliance on the car, EV or otherwise.

The primary advantage I’ve found has almost nothing to do with the ‘e’ and instead with the ‘bike’ half. All of my other bikes are built for specific uses, have clipless pedals, no racks, and I don’t like leaving them out even if locked. In contrast, the ebike has platform pedals, racks, panniers, locks, and lights. I treat it completely differently* to the other bikes and it’s great. *- I still wax the chain and it does get ridden on singletrack, so it’s really not all that different.

My tips for a practical, useful ebike:

1. Platform pedals for normal shoes. I have some Redshift LED platform pedals that are nice, attention getting and bright, but probably not good value.
2. Racks and panniers. I especially like my orange Ortlieb waterproof panniers, and the front rack is good for large/bulky items.
3. Don’t install anything too fancy, keep it boring so you can confidently lock it and leave it.
4. Mudguards and fenders are your friend.
5. XC tyres may reduce your range a bit, but open up gravel and singletrack. I had some sketchy moments with heavily loaded panniers and a loose descent down a gravel road that I’d rather not repeat. Cheap wire bead single compound Maxxis Rekons and great.
6. Lights. I installed a front light bolted to the front rack, switched from the Giant bar-mounted ebike controller and powered from the primary battery. For the rear I use a Garmin Varia rear radar unit (just don’t leave it on the bike when you lock up).
7. ESI chunky silicone grips work well for riding without gloves. This one is down to personal preference, but I use a very different approach on my other bikes
8. Locks. I use a decades-old Kryptonite U-lock and a newer chain lock. I also have a Kryptonite New York lock and a bigger chain, but they weigh about as much as the ebike. Use locks appropriate for your environment whatever that is.
9. Bell. Get a bell and use it.
10. Kick stands are good, especially when you 30kg of whatever in the panniers.

All of what I described above can work with a normal bike, but the assistance could be more or less useful depending on your terrain and fitness. This ebike lets me carry quite heavy loads with minimal extra effort, but is among the slowest of all my bikes for commuting.

You may have noticed a reasonable two year gap in activities from that ducted heat pump until now. Two reasons: that thing was expensive and the budget needed a break, and second, I was distracted with grad school. However, I was still thinking about adding solar during that time, and in early 2025 I ramped up my research into equipment and installers.

This step involved significantly more planning and research. Not necessarily because it’s more complex, but more so because of the vast range of panels, inverters, and installers out there.

I initially spoke with many friends and acquaintances about their solar systems, their installers, and their experiences. In addition to that, I also used the quoting service on solarquotes.com and requested three quotes. I contacted one of the installers from these conversations and two from the quote requests. I judged two of the three worth pursuing and worked with both installers to design a system for the house.

The two systems were quite different, one appeared to be designed to maximise the available government rebates available, and the other designed around our energy usage, preferences, and roof geometry and orientation.

I used a few tools to organise my thoughts, research, correspondence, quotes, and a significant number of datasheets.

• Claude Projects. I compiled all of the quotes, data sheets for all components quoted, energy bills, rebate program details, installer and component reviews, and other relevant information in a Claude project. I then used Claude to analyse and compare different aspects of these options. The analysis performed by Claude was helpful, but absolutely had to be verified. It was excellent at direct comparisons in spec between equipment, but the financial analyses were inconsistent. This was all happening in early 2025, so I think that would be around the Claude 3.5 days, and things have certainly moved on since then. I’ve found systems like Claude Projects or Google’s NotebookLM to be great tools for compiling and interrogating sets of documents for projects like this one.

• Obsidian. I compiled all of my notes and analysis from Claude in Obsidian. This was (and is) a great cross-platform tool to store and organise notes and other documents. I organise my notes by project, and looking back at my Obsidian folder for this one provides a good snapshot of what I was doing and thing about at the time. Highly recommended.

So, after all that, what did I decide to do? I chose the installer who seemed more responsive to my requests and designed a system appropriate for my situation. At this stage it was time to finalise the component spec and capacities and I continued my analyses with the assistance of Claude and dozens of datasheets.

The solar panels themselves are more or less a commodity, and the selection process was almost entirely down to price. I decided on Jinko Solar Tiger Neo Satin (what a name) 440W panels, the exact number of which was TBD.

From here, focusing on the selection of inverter. This was a more difficult decision that I’ll briefly summarise and a choice between established, more expensive, and known versus newer, cheaper, and potentially a little risky.

The established option was Fronius. Fronius is a well-known Austrian (not Australian) manufacturer with a long track record and a good reputation for reliability. The unit I considered was the Fronius Primo GEN24 5.0 5kW inverter. Unfortunately, that’s not a very inspiring name, especially sitting next to the Jinko Solar Tiger Neo Satin on a quote. Anyway, this inverter is fine. It works, it’s reliable, it’s expensive, could support a PV point to provide power directly from the panels in case of a grid failure, and it’s upgradable to support a battery. This would be paired with 6.6kW of those well-named panels.

An option from the second category was Sungrow. Sungrow was described as a good option, less expensive than the Fronius, but no PV point and no support for a battery. This system would use the same 6.6kW of Jinko panels and the Sungrow SG5.0RS 4.999kW inverter. What came first, the SRAM 28.99mm DUB spindle or the Sungrow 4.999kW inverter?

A final third option, also from the second category, was a battery-integrated system from Sigenergy. This system was cheaper and offered an integrated battery and inverter unit. The installer had less experience with these, and as of 2025 there was less data for system relativity and performance in Australia. The system spec was 8.36kW of panels, a 6kW inverter, and 8.06kW of battery storage, and was very well priced.

If somehow neither the name of this step or photo gave it away, I went with the Fronius/Jinko system. I also included the PV point and had the inverter installed in a location that could accommodate a house battery. Speaking of which, I ran through the costs and different battery scenarios and came to the conclusion that adding a house battery now was more of less neutral. There was no significant financial advantage, but there was a a significant immediate cost. I decided to hold off on the battery, but planned to add one in the next few years as prices continued to fall. I think they call that foreshadowing.

The primary challenge we faced with this system was integrating it into the quite full main switchboard. While there was sufficient room for the necessary circuits and Fronius smart meter, there was not going to be much left over. One of my requirements was that we left capacity for 1. a battery, and 2. an induction cooktop. We were able to do both, but with zero margin.

Our house has the original concrete tiled roof, which was painted about 10 years ago and is in pretty good condition. In preparation for the solar installation I preped and painted about a dozen spare roof tiles. I think the installers only used one, but it was good to have some spares just in case. Overall, the installation went well.

The solar system has performed well and as expected over the past year. I have had no issues with any of the equipment and it’s been reliable. And, referring back to my earlier concerns regarding the risk with new, lesser-known options, that was later shown to be valid²¹.

The thinking behind that PV point, which provides unto 3kW of power as long as the panels are producing a sufficient amount, was that it could be used to charge a car or run whatever appliance in a power outage. We haven’t had any power outages, but I did shut off the grid connection and verified the PV point functioned.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the system chosen and happy with the result.

The house had a relatively new instant gas water heater, specifically a Rinnai Infiniti 32 with a big “Enviro” sticker on it, so I suppose we should have been all set. Right? We still had high gas usage and bills even after removing the gas heater a couple years earlier. And, aside from standing in the way of my decarbonisation project, it was clearly using a surprising amount of gas day to day, often cycling when a mixer tap was used. I suspect that it, along with the many metres long large diameter copper pipe was an expensive installation. Too bad it was also expensive to run.

A heat pump water heater was always a key component of the solar installation, and there was never a question of whether or not to get one, just which one. I considered a few manufacturers, but it was pretty clear that the Sanden water heaters were among the best and the right choice. I initially specified a 250L tank, but increased it to 300L to minimise the likelihood of a cold shower.

The water heater was initially configured to heat the water automatically based on usage. I left it this way for a few weeks, but found that it was running at night and at times that weren’t taking advantage of the solar generation. I changed the schedule to only heat between 10:00am and 5:00pm, and haven’t changed it since. We haven’t run out of hot water and I don’t think about it anymore.

We’ve now been using the heat pump water heater for a little over a year and I have no complaints. Running costs approach zero and there’s always hot water. I’m not sure what else you would want. However, I still need to bring that old copper gas pipe to the scrap metal dealer.

The Subaru was pretty expensive to run and difficult to justify driving with an EV in the house. But, the large boot and bike racks were still useful and the Subaru stuck around for years. It averaged about 1,400km per year since the purchase of the Tesla, and that usage all but stopped after I bought that ebike.

I could only take some many oil changes, dumping $100 of clearly still good synthetic motor oil and throwing away very clean oil filters. So, after watching too many videos about repurposing Leaf batteries for home use, I test drove a nearby used Leaf on a whim and bought it.

I ended up with a cheap 2020 Leaf with about 50,000km, a very health battery, and generally in very good to excellent condition. It has a surprising number of features for a cheap Nissan hatchback: Apple CarPlay, heated front and rear seats, heated steering wheel, 360° camera, LED headlights, two bonnets, adaptive cruise, auto braking, and probably more that I’ve forgotten.

For anyone looking at a used Leaf, I suggest a $20 bluetooth OBD2 module and LeafSpy Pro (iOS, Android). You can assess the battery cell health prior to purchase and avoid later surprises.

The prospect of V2G with the Leaf was enticing, but I did not sufficiently investigate which ports on the Leaf support bi-directional charging (tip: it’s only the CHAdeMO) or the supported CHAdeMO V2G chargers available in Australia. The high cost (apx. $5,000AUD) for a CHAdeMO V2G charger with the now non-standard connector is pretty hard to justify. In the end I didn’t and (spoiler) went with a home battery instead.

Speaking of CHAdeMO, there aren’t many of those around and range isn’t one of the Leaf’s strong suits. The combination of a passively cooled battery (read that as it heat soaks the case and hopes for the best), an NCM battery that should only be charged to 80% SOC for daily use, a resistive PTC heater (no heat pump for the Australian Leaves), and reliance on slow chargers results in a pretty modest range and limited use cases. Remember that 2022 ebike from another era? Well, this 2020 Leaf is from another epoch than our 2021 Tesla. But, to be fair, it is a great car for around town trips and commuting and generally choose to drive it over the Tesla. I would look elsewhere if you like road trips.

The new Toyo Proxes C100 Plus tyres that came with the car were unremarkable in the dry, but diabolical in the wet. I thought possibly the tyre pressures were too high or the alignment may have been off, but neither were the case. These things just had no grip in the wet: they understeered without warning, and this underpowered Leaf would spin both front tyres on a freeway entrance ramp up to 100kph. In a word, terrible.

After one too many rainy days I replaced them with my favourite tyre, the Michelin Pilot Sport. I had the Pilot Sport 4 on both the Tesla and the Subaru and wanted to get the same for the Leaf. The Leaf has a less-than-common size for most cars that would warrant a Pilot Sport 4, and it wasn’t available. However, the newer Pilot Sport 5 was. It’s hard to compare two different tyres on three very different cars, but they’re quite nice. Both dry and wet traction is excellent and predictable. No complaints.

Other changes included installing a tow bar, which meant I lost the under-floor mounted spare tyre. No big deal, this thing is never likely to be far from home, as I discussed earlier. The boot in the Leaf is reasonably large, but has a high sill and a Bose subwoofer bolted to the floor just kind of hanging out there. I made a cargo organiser from MDF and sound deadening, and a new cargo floor from plywood and automotive carpet. Aside from that, I sourced a missing parcel tray from a semi-local wrecker. It’s more usable now, but it’s still not a wagon, it’s more like one of those tall-ish awkward hatchbacks. I may add easily removable crossbars for longer timber and oversized materials at some stage, but no firm plans yet.

Overall, I’m fairly happy with the Leaf, but the limited range and public charging options are definitely a drawback. However, it charges fast enough on a standard 7kW home charger and it’s also very practical for local use. More importantly, the transport decarbonisation project is now complete.

Much like that gas instant water heater, we also had a relatively new and very nice Bosch five-burner 70cm gas cooktop. I had zero complaints about it and was reluctant to swap it out for something else. And, even though we used the gas cooktop daily, the gas meter wouldn’t even tick over to the next smallest unit of reportable use most months, which was a cubic metre in our case. However, we were still paying a supply charge that added up to about $30 AUD per month, which was annoying.

I settled on a Bosch induction cooktop fairly early in the process. Not because it was so much better than anything else, but because it matched all the other appliances in the kitchen. Vain? Maybe, but I like the consistency. As an aside, I do run Shimano chains and cassettes on SRAM road drivetrains and Shimano brakes on SRAM MTB drivetrains, so it’s not pathological.

Back on topic, I narrowed my choices down to two Bosch cooktops, a 60cm and an 80cm. You’ll note that the old cooktop was a 70cm. After pulling the built-in oven, inspecting and measuring, consulting drawings and installation guides, I found the opening and cabinetry was exactly the right size and shape for the 60cm induction unit. With this information I made the rational decision and went with the cleverly named “PXE875DC1E” 80cm unit.

This decision would require modifying not only the Caesarstone bench top, but the base cabinets as well. I planned this carefully and with significant help from Ivan the sparky and Johnny the shop fitter we now have an induction cooktop installed. I don’t know how much extra the modifications cost, but the overall installation and induction cooktop itself wasn’t too bad. And with the gas cooktop out, we no longer had any gas appliances.

We did have so additional costs in new induction-compatible pots and pans, and the cast iron wok is just as heavy as you’d expect a large lump of cast iron to be. I still need to get a Bialetti induction plate to use the 30 year old Moka pot, but should have that sorted out sometime soon. Is it just me, or does that kind of feel like a dongle adapter for a coffee pot? Anyway, at least the old 6 ½” cast iron skillet that’s been in the family for a few generations is compatible and still going strong, no adapter needed.

How does it work? Most will reference the speed at which it boils water. Yep it does that, but it’s not that interesting. Do you know what it does do? It cooks silently without the need to vent combustion product from the gas cooktop. That’s my favourite feature. The heat modulation took a little getting used to, but it works very well. It changes heat output quickly like the gas cooktop and it’s significantly easier to keep clean. I would say it here if there is anything I miss about the gas cooktop, but there is not. I’m very happy that we have moved on.

Gas abolishment is the term used by the gas utility service here, and it’s a far more invasive process than just locking out a meter. This fact sheet outlines the process of gas abolishment in Victoria.

The gas contractors came out on three seperate attempts to locate and disconnect the gas line. It was a long and disruptive process that should be simpler, but it’s understandable when dealing with 50 year old buried infrastructure. This request came with a $135.30 AUD bill, which seems like a bargain considering the about of time and effort expended on capping a pipe.

I don’t have much else to say about this one. The gas service is gone, and it was a long, drawn out and extremely disruptive process. But, no more $30AUD per month gas supply fee and no more fossil fuels.

After all that, I could pull out the 50 years of galvanised iron and copper gas pipes snaking their way under the house. Thanks Paul for the sawsall!

As far as I’m concerned, the home energy project is now complete. We’re done, right? But why are there more steps below and why does it say expensive?

I paid a fair amount of attention to our solar energy production through the first winter, spring and beginning of summer we had the panels. While it was possible to time shift some energy use to peak solar production times, there was still a significant excess of production going back to the grid.

In Australia there is usually an excess of power generation during peak sunlight hours, which is the primary motivation for those three free hours of electricity²⁰. Another consequence is the feed-in tariff, which is the amount you get paid for excess energy you produce that’s fed back into the grid, approaches zero.

Watching hundreds of kWh of energy flowing back to the grid and then paying for use in the evening to run the A/C, oven, cooktop, etc, was getting pretty annoying. I can only charge the cars so often, and I don’t want to cook dinner at 2:00pm. So, I returned to my battery research. The careful reader will note that this was not a few years later, as I had planned, but more like six months. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the federal government was soon to announce changes to the home battery rebate program. More on that later.

The battery selection process was mostly completed back when I made the panel and inverter selection, which was the BYD HVM home battery, an LFP battery consisting of stacked 2.76kWh units. During the period between designed the solar system and late 2025, Fronius released its own battery to complement their inverter, the Fronius Reserva. I briefly looked at it, but it was more expensive per kWh than the BYD and required more floor space.

So, the BYD was chosen. But, what about capacity? Considering the home battery rebate program and its direct link between battery capacity and rebate received, I opted for the largest capacity I could fit in a single stack in the garage, which was seven units and 19.3kWh.

This built-in incentive to maximise capacity had some consequences. For me, I have a larger battery than I would have otherwise chosen, and I was not alone. Apparently, most people had a strong response to these incentives and in aggregate increased the average installed home battery capacity in Australia by 50% from Q3 2025 to Q1 2026²². As a result, the rebate program was modified shortly after to disincentivise excessive battery capacities.

However, my installation was completed prior to the scheduled change in the program. Looking at the changes, I would have lost 40% of the subsidy on capacity in excess of 14kWh, which is 5.3kWh (apx. two of the seven BYD HVM units) of capacity. In my case, the changes to the program would have reduced the rebate received by about $1,800AUD. Considering this, I probably would have installed a five unit, 13.8kWh battery. This seems like an effective policy change.

Back to my battery. The installation was pretty straightforward having designed the system with this scenario in mind. The battery was installed in its designated spot in the garage along with several more km of cabling. I did opt to hardwire both the Fronius inverter and the BYD battery into my network. Both are wifi capable, but they’re unlikely to benefit from the freedom of movement, so they’re now on dedicated ethernet ports.

During this process the Fronius Primo GEN24 5.0 inverter was upgraded to a Fronius Primo GEN24 5.0 Plus, which still isn’t an impressive name. That’s just a firmware update, but it’s also a $1,000 firmware update. Speaking of cost, how much of the cost of solar and house batteries in Australia can be attributed to warning stickers and labels? 10%? And, if you placed all the solar and battery stickers in Australia end to end, would anyone read them? 🤔

Any challenges? We had insufficient capacity in the main switchboard for backup circuits. So, while the battery can provide backup power in a grid outage, ours only does via the PV point, which now provides power from the battery and/or solar. The lack of backup circuits in the house could be a big deal for some, but we rarely have outages and the expense of relocating and expanding the main switchboard to accommodate the backup circuits didn’t seem justified.

I don’t think the World Bollard Association would be impressed with this box-ticking dynabolted bollard.

I think it’s too early to judge the value or effectiveness of the battery. I would like to use it through all seasons and try some different energy plans to work out the best way to use the battery. I’ll post an update when I have more thoughts.

A new main switchboard for the house. It works, it accommodates the extensive switches and equipment for the solar and battery, and despite being almost entirely obscured from view by warning labels, it’s very well done. Thanks, Ivan!

An additional split system heat pump for the workshop. We considered adding the workshop as a zone on the main ducted Daikin system, but it wasn’t cost effective or straightforward. They suggest a split system the time, and that’s what I did a few years later. My fingers went numb working through the winter and I finally had enough, but I really should have installed the split system a couple years earlier. This one also required an additional sub-board for the garage and workshop.

A less-than-trouble-free Tesla Wall Connector V3, although in 2021 Australian Teslas were still delivered with Universal Mobile Connector included. The Leaf and Tesla generally share the Wall Connector, but the Universal Mobile Connector is also there if both cars need to be charged simultaneously. The Wall Connector is hardwired to a single-phase 32A circuit and can output apx. 7kW. The Mobile Connector is plugged in using the 10A pigtail and can output apx. 2kW.

2kW doesn’t sounds like much, but it charges the Leaf at a rate of apx. 5% SOC/hour, compared to apx 15% SOC/hour on the 7kW Wall Connector. I don’t pay attention to the Tesla’s charge rate; it’s charged far less frequently and manages charging rates and schedules pretty well on its own, so I don’t think about it much.

I most recently replaced an old c.2013 corded AC lawn mover with a Ryobi 18V dual-battery mower, but aside from the cord this is more or less like for like. I do share batteries with my other power tools so the cost was minimal. I also waited to do this until the old mower failed, but really should have done it earlier. While dragging the extension lead around the garden was annoying, I ran over precisely zero extension leads in the 12 years of use of the old mower.

References

1. The Very Good and Very Bad News on Climate (nytimes.com/2026/07/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-bill-mckibben.html)
2. Why some plastic packaging is necessary to prevent food waste and protect the environment (theconversation.com/why-some-plastic-packaging-is-necessary-to-prevent-food-waste-and-protect-the-environment-117479)
3. The fuel crisis has hit the Pacific hard. The region is responding – but tough choices lie ahead (theconversation.com/the-fuel-crisis-has-hit-the-pacific-hard-the-region-is-responding-but-tough-choices-lie-ahead-284071)
4. How tacit collusion makes consumers pay (pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-tacit-collusion-makes-consumers-pay)
5. Renewable energy is cheaper and healthier – so why isn’t it replacing fossil fuels faster? (theconversation.com/renewable-energy-is-cheaper-and-healthier-so-why-isnt-it-replacing-fossil-fuels-faster-269685)
6. The European Energy Crisis and the Consequences for the Global Natural Gas Market (papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4640202)
7. Australian gas exporters will be forced to set aside local supply for domestic users (uts.edu.au/news/2026/05/australian-gas-exporters-will-be-forced-to-set-aside-local-supply-for-domestic-users)
8. OECD global long-run economic scenarios: 2025 update (oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/economic-outlook/long-run-economic-scenarios-2025-update.html)
9. Official classifications of Tour de France 2026 – Stage 9 (letour.fr/en/rankings)
10. Why the Trump administration is paying billions to abandon wind farms (pbs.org/newshour/show/why-the-trump-administration-is-paying-nearly-a-billion-dollars-to-abandon-wind-farms)
11. Environmental & Energy Law Program (eelp.law.harvard.edu)
12. Sabin Center for Climate Change Law (climate.law.columbia.edu)
13. EV public charger shortage? The data shows drivers rarely queue to charge (abc.net.au/news/science/2026-06-19/ev-charger-rollout-keeping-pace-electric-vehicle-uptake/106754272)
14. Victorian Midday Power Saver (https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/households/save-energy-and-money/victorian-midday-power-saver)
15. Solar Sharer Offer (energy.gov.au/rebates/solar-sharer-offer)
16. Are Chinese EVs a national security risk? (abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-daily/are-chinese-evs-a-national-security-risk/106910378)
17. ‘Shockingly bad’: Nissan Leaf drivers voice anger over app shutdown (theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/14/nissan-leaf-app-shutdown-nissanconnect-ev-app)
18. Jill Lepore, Elon Musk, The Evening Rocket (bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0d7q0h8)
19. Jill Lepore, X Man: The Elon Musk Origin Story (pushkin.fm/podcasts/elon-musk-the-evening-rocket)
20. Hyundai, Kia and Genesis extend charging unit warranty in Australia for some EVs (drive.com.au/news/hyundai-kia-and-genesis-extend-charging-unit-warranty-in-australia-for-some-evs/)
21. Sigenergy’s Terminal Problem: Melted Plugs & Throttled Inverters (solarquotes.com.au/blog/sigenergys-terminal-problem-burnt-plugs-throttled-inverters/)
22. Quarterly Carbon Market Report March quarter 2026 (cer.gov.au/markets/reports-and-data/quarterly-carbon-market-reports/quarterly-carbon-market-report-march-quarter-2026/small-scale-renewable-energy-scheme)

Resources

• Solar Quotes (solarquotes.com.au)
• OpenNEM (explore.openelectricity.org.au)

• Solar Panel Rebate Program, Victoria (solar.vic.gov.au)
• Federal Home Battery Rebate Program, Australia (dcceew.gov.au/energy/programs/cheaper-home-batteries)
• 3-Hour Free Electricity Window, Victoria (energy.vic.gov.au/households/save-energy-and-money/victorian-midday-power-saver)
• Gas Abolishment, Victoria (energy.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0042/673989/disconnecting-from-fossil-gas.pdf)

• Amber (amber.com.au)
• Globird (globirdenergy.com.au)

• LeafSpy Pro iOS (apps.apple.com/us/app/leafspy-pro/id967376861)
• LeafSpy Pro Android (play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Turbo3.Leaf_Spy_Pro&hl=en-US)

• Claude (claude.ai)
• NotebookLM (notebooklm.google.com)
• Obsidian (obsidian.md)
• GrandPerspective (grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net)