A Visit From Tesla
On Monday 31 st October, some year 8 students had a wonderful experience of being part of a world wide action group designed to bring attention to the plight of World Global Warming.
In mid November there is a world leaders meeting in Marrakesh (Morocco), to discuss what we can all do to overcome this problem.
The Year 8 HASS students of Ms O'Brien and Ms Fox participated in the COP22 exercise by making posters reflecting their commitment to decreasing carbon emissions to help 'save the world'.
These cards were picked up this morning and will be taken to Marrakesh for display, along with those of thousands of other students from around the world.
This year is the first time this activity has been conducted in Australia and Mount Lawley SHS is the first school in WA to participate (and the second Australia wide).
Students were introduced to the Tesla Electric vehicle.
Tesla motors was formed in California around 2003, it was named after Nikola Tesla who invented many products including the AC Electric motor over 120 years ago.
The Tesla motors CEO is Elon Musk an engineer and inventor that also sits on the board of Solar city the USAs biggest home solar supplier, his aim is to make the world sustainable and remove our reliance on fossil fuels.
The Tesla on display this morning was a Model S P85D, delivered to the owner in August 2015, the D stands for dual AC motors that drive all 4 wheels.
This morning's round trip from Mandurah covered 160kms, the car consumed 28Kwh of electricity, taking in to consideration charging losses this equates to less than $3.00 using home solar power or $8.50 using grid power.
The same trip in a petrol car would cost $15-$25.
The average car in Australia travels 15,000kms per year, this one has covered 61,000kms in 14 months, from Albany to Broome and everywhere in between.
There's a widely held belief that electric vehicles can't travel anywhere without an expensive charging infrastructure being built throughout the country.
Although dedicated charge stations would make car charging more convenient for the public an EV can be charged anywhere there's a standard power outlet.
In fact "refueling" an electric car is easy, quick and now convenient, as the students discovered during the talk.
"Trunking" is slowly (but possibly not wisely), becoming a craze….as tried out by the boys by sitting in the engine compartment.
