Printed solar panel inventor Paul Dastoor has heard it a thousand times - "what happens when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow?"
In response, the University of Newcastle physicist politely requests the renewable energy sceptics to reflect on those once swore the petrol-powered car could never supersede the capability of the horse and cart.
"They said how on earth are you going to be able to expect people to use an explosive liquid in their cars; you're going to have to set up infrastructure, you're going to have massive fuel bombs every 100 kilometres because that was about the range of the car then," Professor Dastoor said.
"We forget this when a new technology comes along. But we have already built infrastructure across the country for every technology that we have developed. "
And that's the point of the Charge Around Australia tour, which began in Newcastle on Friday.
Over the next few months a Tesla electric car will travel around the country primarily powered by a portable printed solar cell array.
The car will vist 70 schools to showcase a real-world application of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
"One of the things I'm emphasising is that it's giving us the incredible opportunity to go to regional and remote schools and say 'this is how you go from the science you're learning right now, at whatever level you're doing it, at to university-based science and then see how that leads to research, which leads to the development of technology, which changes people's lives," Professor Dastoor said.
On most days the 400 square metre solar array will produce 10 watts of power per square metre, or between 16 and 20 kilowatt hours per day. About 10 hours of charging time will drive the car for 130 kilometres.
"The project is giving us our first opportunity to road test technology and see how it stands up in real world conditions," Professor Dastoor, who has been working on printed solar technology for the past 26 years, said.
He admits that mass produced portable solar arrays for electric cars won't be commercially available any time soon, however, the manufacture of printed solar technology is about to take a giant leap forward.
A capital raising venture for the establishment of a manufacturing facility at the University of Newcastle is in its final stages. It is anticipated the factory will produce 400,000 square metres of printed solar cells a year within 24 months.
"Our initial customers will be industrial buildings. There is more than 100 million square metres of industrial roofing in Australia alone," Professor Dastoor said.
"Most of those buildings are owned by only a few property owners who need to meet their ESG (Environmental, social, and governance) requirements."
Beyond that, there are opportunities in road transport and even space travel.
"If we think about some potential applications, this project provides an ideal road test for charging where you just have no other options. Outback Australia is one of those places and another one is somewhere like the surface of Mars," Professor Dastoor said.
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