Electric vehicle and energy storage giant Tesla is touring Australia with a tiny house that has a big mission: to increase renewable energy adoption and educate the public on how to generate, store, and use solar power at home.
The house is 100 per cent renewables-powered and fitted with a 2-kilowatt-hour rooftop solar panel system, as well as one unit of Tesla’s home battery, the Powerwall. It is being towed across the country by the all-electric Tesla Model X, and will make several stops in major Australian cities at key events such as sustainable living fairs, home expos, and public exhibitions.
Visitors to the Tiny House can speak to Tesla staff and see the Powerwall’s energy storage capabilities in action, and also design their own home energy solutions.
As the company puts it: “We want to bring the Tesla Tiny House to you, so you can fully experience what it means to be self-powered.”
While Australian consumers will have to pair the Powerwall with solar panels from another provider, they will soon be able to buy Tesla’s solar roof tiles—these are currently being installed on a trial basis, and Tesla says it began production in mid-2017 and is about to start customer installations.
The Tiny House will feature at an exhibit at Melbourne’s Federation Square and the Eco-Living Fair in Sydney on Sunday. It will also make stops at the Brisbane Home Show in Queensland from September 8 to 10 and September 20 to October 2. The house will be on display in Sydney again at Lane Cove on 8 October, and at the Sydney Olympic Park from 27 to 29 October.
Anyone can nominate their town, school, business or community group as one of the stops for the Tiny House to visit while it is on tour.
