Nestled under Brisbane’s giant Gateway Bridge, the BrewDog craft brewery is an electric vehicle oasis. BrewDog wants to be a good corporate citizen with its Make Earth Great Again campaign. Solar panels have already been installed at the Brisbane brewery and will soon be installed at BrewDog’s global facilities in the US and UK. Employees are urged to consider their carbon footprint when traveling and may sacrifice a paycheck to buy an electric car. BrewDog invests in equipment made from post-consumer recycled plastic. Go to to read the full report here and click the “Make Earth Great Again” tab.
BrewDog plans to stop sending waste to landfill by the end of this year. It uses cleaning products that come in bottles made from recycled milk bottles. They even represent “the amount of carbon we remove from the air for every dish on our menus, helping our customers learn about the emissions of their choices and make informed decisions about what they eat.”
The view from BrewDog. Brisbane Gateway Bridge. Photo courtesy of Majella Waterworth.
At the Saturday morning Tesla meeting at BrewDog, there were many different owners and many interesting stories. These stories were shared between the beers and the delicious food. They ranged from Bastion, who has a complete collection of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars, to the man with the money to spruce up his Tesla. There were at least 20 cars in attendance, mostly Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, which also included a red X. No not the red X.
Tesla Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. Photo courtesy of Majella Waterworth.
Bastion is currently learning to drive. We saw the L plates on his sister’s gray Tesla Model 3 as he drove off. What a great way to start his driving experience. I had to learn on a clumsy manual Vauxhall Viva. I wonder what license he gets. In fact, will they introduce a new category: manual, automatic and AI-assisted? He will enjoy the test – he can use the Tesla for the test, but not the assistive technology. I wonder if we will see protests from driving instructors as their jobs change with more electric vehicles on the road?
Robert likes to use his knowledge of the car industry and spreadsheets, and has calculated and tabulated all the different prices for different charging providers in Australia. Tesla, EVIE, Foxcharge, BP, Ampcharge, etc. all charge at different rates. It can be quite confusing, but it can also save you money if you know where to go for a fee. Some are even free.
He just got a job from me to do some nice charts showing electric car adoption in our country – see my next update. He told me he is still having problems with his body shop about using the solar energy on the roof of the apartment building to charge his car. Currently, he currently pays 23¢ per kWh. He did a great spreadsheet on the cost of running his Toyota Camry compared to his Model Y. “For fuel alone, it cost 25¢ per mile to run his Camry, versus 5¢ for the Tesla.”
He has also written a mini manual for new owners. I’m sure there will be more data and news from Robert.
Alan was very observant and bought shares in a lithium mine in 2017. Recently he was able to trade in his 5 year old Audi for a new Tesla, with money earned from the shares. He’s got plenty of stock left – smart cookie.
Paul is a pilot with Virgin Airlines and benefits from the changed rules Tax on fringe benefits on electric vehicles to get its Model 3 on a renewed lease. After test drives with the Model 3, Model Y, an old soul, and the Hyundai Kona, he ended up with a 3. Talks are still being held with Australian tax office about the salary package for electricity consumption. You can exchange petrol and diesel salary packages.
Get professional financial advice before making any decision about entering into a lease. I write about the Australian context.
He has done his sums and has come to the conclusion that with the rule changes, the electric vehicle costs two-thirds of a petrol equivalent. He expects to save $14,000 a year on his taxes. His lease allows for $1162 for maintenance, which he doesn’t expect to use. At the end of the 3-year lease, the balance is $31,840. He appreciated my previous article on this subject.
He further noted: “The unwillingness of the fleet companies to pack energy from home into the package, but not consider external charging because they assume you top up at home.
“I think once the legislation is resolved, according to the link I sent you, it will be resolved quickly. As it stands, the maintenance seems overly justified and can be reassigned to charging later (or the package can be modified).
“I was able to find much cheaper insurance than a package, especially using the multi-policy discount from my current provider.
“My car comes without charging cables. It remains to be seen if the fleet company will allow one charger to be included.”
In the parking lot, owners discussed their cars and showed off their modifications, including the retrofitted boombox. Big boy toys, indeed!
Bling to a T. Photo courtesy of Majella Waterworth.
Bing – want bling? Want to stand out from a crowd of white Teslas? Majella and I call them tic-tacs. There are so many on the road). Well, here’s how you do it. You use a lot of diamonds and carbon fiber. One car had a diamond-plated T for Tesla, carbon fiber skirts, an enlarged spoiler, a yoke steering wheel with the center T covered in diamonds. They had changed the taillights so that the taillights moved along like the new Audis. This one is definitely not a tic tac.
To see drone footage courtesy, from Luke Peter Nolan.
Thank you for organizing this, Nathan Merrittand showing us bits and pieces to take care of our precious cars. The paint touch up kit was a particular hit. We come back!
Oh, did I mention BrewDog has great food and cold beer?
I don’t like paywalls. You don’t like paywalls. Who likes paywalls? Here at CleanTechnica, we implemented a restricted paywall for a while, but it always felt wrong – and it was always hard to decide what to put behind that. In theory, your most exclusive and best content goes behind a paywall. But then less people will read it! We just don’t like paywalls, which is why we decided to drop ours.
Unfortunately, the media business is still a hard, cut-throat business with small margins. It’s a never-ending Olympic challenge to stay afloat or maybe even — gasping for breath – to grow. So …