Financial

The entire Hyundai Ionic Electric vehicle cost HK$275,000 to purchase, brand new, and the solar installation to charge the thing up without setting fire to dead dinosaurs cost very nearly as much, which may suggest that it was not a successful experiment. May as well just carry on burning those goddamned terrible lizards, am I right?

Yes, it is true that a similar result could, no doubt, have been achieved for a far smaller sum of money. After all, Hong Kong is right on the doorstep of the worlds'  largest battery manufacturers. What is my particular connection to Australia, other than the fact that I, like many people, also like Bluey? There is no firm reason for reaching out to a solar battery company down under, other than the fact that a) Vaulta is a startup, and I personally like the CEO and what he's trying to do and I wish to support that with my money and b) didgeridoos.

Life Expectancy

The Vaulta battery I selected has the added advantage of being robust and designed for simplified repair in the field (think, like Flying Doctors and outback rescues, only featuring inert metal boxes with a few blinking LEDs instead). It is supposed to be a long lasting solution. Similarly, the reason for choosing Victron components, as opposed to far cheaper Chinese solutions, is because Victron has established a reputation for designing and assembling good quality kit. Again, it is supposed to be a long lasting assemblage of hardware. I am thinking full life cycle here, and I do not wish to add to the world's overflowing landfill sites. Solar panels can be recycled, and much of the material reclaimed, but current technology and an immature recycling ecosystem means that unless I set something up that is built to last, I may well end up adding to the problems I'm trying to help solve. I have developed (with expert input), and paid for, a solar solution designed to run with minimal maintenance for at least 10 years. The solar panels should last 20. I would expect to get about 6,000 cycles out of the original battery, which ought to mean about 16 years before major replacement of cells becomes necessary. Well over 10 years, anyway, and I would expect that some hard worked components (inverter, solar controller) may begin to fail after about 8 years. The environment is harsh; summer temperatures in the shed frequently exceed 40 degrees centigrade, despite copious fan assisted cooling.