Elon Musk says Tesla can fix South Australia’s blackouts in 100 days, or battery system is free
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk is betting that his company can get a battery system in South Australia installed and working within 100 days – and if it can’t, he says, the company will do it free.
Musk made the wager on Thursday night in a brief back-and-forth on Twitter with Australian software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes.
Cannon-Brookes had tweeted a link to an Australian news report that cited Tesla executive Lyndon Rive as saying he would “commit” to installing the megawatt-hours of batteries needed to prevent the recent blackouts in South Australia. Heat waves across the region have caused energy demand to spike, which has put increased pressure on the infrastructure there.
According to the report, Rive said the higher production capacity of Tesla’s Gigafactory battery production plant in Nevada could help address South Australia’s energy crisis within 100 days of being asked.
Tesla and its partner Panasonic began mass producing lithium-ion battery cells at the Gigafactory two months ago.