SOLARLAP — Around Australia on Green Power

A retired electrical engineer named Andrew Mangano drove his Tesla Model 3 around Australia to prove an electric car can run mostly on solar power, even on remote outback roads. Over 42 days he covered 16,940 km, stopping only at charging sites with some solar generation behind them, whether a small rooftop array or a whole town running on solar, like Katherine (a 34-megawatt solar farm) or Norseman (solar plus battery backup). He spent AU$1,649 on charging across 69 stops. His point: even away from cities, solar-backed charging is possible if you plan around it, and the electricity behind a charge point matters as much as the car itself.

The trip also exposed how uneven charging infrastructure still is. Western Australia gave him the most trouble, with broken cooling pumps limiting some fast chargers to a fraction of their rated speed, standalone solar-diesel-battery sites failing to switch to backup, and vandalized equipment. Once he reached the Northern Territory and the east coast, charging went far more smoothly.

For homeowners, this isn't really about home upgrades, but it's a real-world reminder that an EV's climate benefit depends heavily on when and where it charges. Charging during daylight hours, especially if you have home solar, draws on cleaner power than charging overnight off a fossil-heavy grid — a distinction worth keeping in mind if you already own solar panels or are weighing an EV alongside them.