Doomsday glacier could give way any day now

 From Just Have A Think

Yes, the danger isn't immediate.  But when the "plug" holding the Thwaites glacier goes, it will start a process which could raise the sea level by 3 metres over the next few decades.

Solar sounds the knell for fossil fuels

 From This is not Cool

RenewEconomy (Australia)[Article by Ray Wills]:

Solar is not just getting cheaper; it is sprinting down a learning curve that has held for half a century, with module prices falling about ten-thousand-fold as cumulative capacity has exploded. 

That is my first message: a technology whose cost keeps dropping predictably as deployment grows, and where every new gigawatt makes the next gigawatt cheaper again. 

And beating the trend line. [Prof Wills' comment refers to the way the slope of the capacity price trend line has steepened since 2020; i.e., the learning curve has accelerated]

 

The second message is about speed. 

When we line up all major power sources from the year each first exceeded a bigly amount of energy – 100 TWh – solar and wind are now racing ahead faster than coal, gas, hydro or nuclear ever did – nuclear did move fast for a while there, but then it stopped. Wind hasn’t.

And batteries are climbing even more steeply from their own 100 TWh “year zero”.

This is already the fastest shift in electricity generation in history, and it is still accelerating.

The third story is where it takes us. 

On current trajectories, the Future Smart Strategies  [Prof Ray Wills' consulting company] model has solar, wind and batteries driving renewables towards around 80 per cent of global electricity by 2035, with coal, oil and gas pushed to the margins of the system.

Yet mainstream outlooks such as BNEF’s 2026 New Energy Outlook still assume a convenient slowing of this trend beyond the visible horizon, even though every call for a slowdown since 2015 has been wrong, and every retrospective look has had to revise growth up, not down.

Solar is moving fast. Really fast. Batteries are moving faster.

There is no evidence in either prices or deployment that the system is about to tap the brakes.

For our Future Smart global growth model, the logical response is not to ask why the transition is so quick, but to ask: why on earth it would be slow?

Ray Willis and Peter Newman in The Conversation:

Solar produces cheap, abundant power. Batteries allow it to be used later. These technologies are useful first to clean up electricity generation and boost energy security. 

But these two technologies can unlock much more. They can make it possible to electrify polluting sectors long considered “hard to abate”. 

Electric options for heavy industry are multiplying. Electric arc furnaces are now replacing coal‑fired blast furnaces in steelmaking. High‑temperature electric heat pumps and electric boilers are replacing gas in some chemical and food‑processing plants, while heavy duty battery‑electric haul trucks are being trialled in mining and construction.

These technologies are still at an early stage. They’re often more expensive up-front. But the selling point is the fact they are cheaper to run – as long as electricity is fairly cheap. 

This is exactly the outcome solar and battery combinations deliver.

I have found in the past several years that Prof Ray Wills has been a much better forecaster than 95% of the rest of the renewables futurists, with the only exception being Tony Seba.  What characterises both these blokes is their reliance on exponential growth curves.    I have learnt from both of them.

What my own analysis suggests (still working on the data—I'll try and get my article out later this week) is that wind and solar will reach roughly two-thirds of global generation (output) by 2035, which is slower that Wills's forecasts.  There are many caveats to my forecasts, which I'll get into in the article.  But what this means is that fossil fuels in electricity generation will be mostly phased out by 2035.

If you add the S-curve transition taking place in EVs, emissions are likely to fall very fast from 2030 onwards.  Unless the world becomes an AI hellhole.

A level 3 charger at home? Not needed.

 

Source: HelloTech—What is level 2 EV charger

From Gridly

[This advice is specifically about the situation in Australia, but the principles are the same everywhere.

The A$ is worth about 2/3rds of the US$, and there is also a 10% general sales tax (VAT)]

Can You Install a Level 3 Charger at Home? What Australian Homeowners Need to Know.

It is a reasonable question. DC fast chargers at public stations can add 200+ km of range in 20 minutes. A home Level 2 charger takes 6–8 hours for a full charge. Why not just install a fast charger at home?

The short answer: you cannot, practically speaking. The long answer explains why, and why you do not actually need to.

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What is a Level 3 charger?

First, the terminology. EV charging is categorised into three levels:

Level 1 and Level 2 are AC (alternating current) chargers. They send AC power to the car, and the car’s onboard charger converts it to DC to charge the battery.

Level 3 is fundamentally different. It bypasses the car’s onboard charger entirely, converting AC grid power to DC externally and feeding it directly into the battery at high power. This requires specialised, industrial-grade equipment.

For a deeper breakdown of connector types and charging standards, see our EV charger types guide.

Why you cannot install Level 3 at home

There are four reasons, and any one of them is a dealbreaker on its own.

1. Your power supply is not big enough

A typical Australian home has a single-phase electrical supply rated at 40–63 amps. That gives you roughly 9–15 kW of total capacity, for the entire house. Your air conditioning, hot water, oven, lights, and everything else shares that allocation.

The smallest Level 3 DC fast charger draws 50 kW. The ones at highway rest stops draw 150–350 kW. That is 3–25 times the total capacity of your home’s electrical supply.

Even a three-phase residential supply (common in newer homes) provides around 15–20 kW of usable capacity. Still nowhere near enough for DC fast charging.

Installing a Level 3 charger would require your electricity network (Ausgrid, Endeavour, Jemena, etc.) to upgrade your supply connection, potentially including a dedicated transformer for your property. This is a major infrastructure project, not a standard residential upgrade.

2. The equipment costs are prohibitive

A commercial DC fast charger unit costs $30,000–$150,000+ for the hardware alone. Installation, including high-voltage cabling, concrete pad, cooling systems, and electrical infrastructure, adds $20,000–$100,000 on top.

For context:

You could buy a Level 2 charger, install it, and charge your EV at home for the next 30+ years for less than the installation cost alone of a Level 3 unit.

3. You would need council and network approval

DC fast chargers are classified as commercial electrical installations. Installing one at a residential property would require:

• Development application to your local council (commercial equipment in a residential zone)
• Network connection application to your electricity distributor for a supply upgrade
• Electrical engineering design by a licensed electrical engineer
• Metering changes, potentially a commercial-grade CT meter

Most councils and network operators will simply say no. The residential grid in your street is not designed to handle 50+ kW point loads from a single dwelling.

4. DC fast charging degrades your battery faster

Even if you could install one, you probably should not use it as your daily charger.

DC fast charging generates significantly more heat in the battery than AC charging. Heat accelerates chemical degradation. Every EV manufacturer’s battery warranty and care guidelines recommend minimising frequent DC fast charging and using AC charging (Level 2) as the primary method.

Studies and manufacturer data consistently show that EVs charged predominantly on Level 2 AC retain more battery capacity over time than those charged predominantly on DC fast chargers. See our EV range and battery degradation guide for the data.

Level 2 charging is not just cheaper and more practical. It is actually better for your car.

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What you CAN install at home

The good news: home Level 2 charging is genuinely excellent, and it covers the needs of nearly every EV owner in Australia.

Single-phase homes (most Australian houses)

• Maximum charger speed: 7.4 kW (32A on a single-phase circuit)
• Range added per hour: ~40–45 km
• Time for a full charge (60 kWh battery): ~8–9 hours
• Time to replenish average daily driving (36 km): under 1 hour

A 7 kW charger plugged in at 6pm gives you a full battery by 2am. Every night. That covers any EV on the market.

Popular 7 kW single-phase chargers in Australia:

• Evnex E2, from $999
• Myenergi Zappi, from $1,590 (best for solar integration)
• Tesla Wall Connector, from $750 (works with all EVs)
• ABB Terra AC Wallbox, from $1,100

See our best home EV charger guide for the full comparison.

Three-phase homes

• Maximum charger speed: 22 kW (32A per phase)
• Range added per hour: ~120–130 km
• Time for a full charge (60 kWh battery): ~3–4 hours
• Time to replenish average daily driving (36 km): ~15 minutes

If you have three-phase power, a 22 kW charger is genuinely fast. Plug in when you get home from work and the car is full before dinner is ready. This is the closest you can get to “fast charging” at home, and it is more than enough for any use case.

Note: Your EV’s onboard charger must support 22 kW AC to benefit from a 22 kW wall charger. Many EVs have 7 kW or 11 kW onboard chargers, which will charge at their onboard maximum regardless of the wall charger’s rating. Check your car’s specs before paying extra for 22 kW capability. See our single-phase vs three-phase guide for details.

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Why Level 2 is actually all you need

The mental model that makes home charging click is this: you are not “filling up” like a petrol station. You are topping up overnight, like charging your phone.

Most EV owners plug in when they get home with 60–80% battery remaining and wake up at 100% (or 80%, if they set a charge limit, which most do for battery longevity). The car is always ready in the morning.

Even heavy drivers covering 150 km daily are fully replenished in under 4 hours on a standard 7 kW charger. Overnight charging handles it effortlessly.

When you need DC fast charging

DC fast charging makes sense for:

• Road trips, topping up mid-journey at highway rest stops
• Long-distance travel, covering more than your battery’s range in a day
• Emergency top-ups. You forgot to plug in and need range quickly

For all of these, public DC fast charger networks (NRMA, Chargefox, Evie, Tesla Supercharger) are the right tool. You do not need to own a DC charger. You use them occasionally, the same way you use a petrol station.

For more on public vs home charging economics, see our home charging vs public charging comparison.

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The cost argument

Home Level 2 charging is dramatically cheaper than public DC fast charging:

Charging at home on an off-peak tariff costs roughly half what public DC fast charging costs. Charging from your own solar costs nothing. There is no scenario where installing a $50,000+ DC charger at home makes financial sense when a $1,500 Level 2 charger does the job at a fraction of the running cost.

Use our EV charging cost calculator to estimate your specific costs based on your tariff and driving distance.

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Solar EV charging, the best home setup

If you have solar panels, a smart Level 2 charger that uses surplus solar generation is the optimal home charging setup. You charge your EV for free during the day using electricity that would otherwise be exported for 3–7 c/kWh.

Chargers with built-in solar diversion, like the Myenergi Zappi or Evnex E2 Plus, automatically adjust charging speed to match your available solar surplus. No wasted export, no grid import, no cost.

This is genuinely better than DC fast charging. You get free fuel, delivered to your car while it sits in your driveway. No Level 3 charger can compete with that.

For the full setup guide, see our solar EV charging guide.

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The bottom line

You cannot install a Level 3 DC fast charger at home, the power requirements, costs, and regulatory hurdles make it impractical. But you do not need one.

A Level 2 wall charger (7 kW on single-phase, up to 22 kW on three-phase) will fully charge any EV overnight, costs $1,300–$2,500 installed, and is actually better for your battery’s long-term health. Pair it with solar and you are charging for free.

Use public DC fast chargers for road trips. Use your home Level 2 charger for everything else. That is how EV charging works, and it works well.

Browse our best home EV charger rankings to find the right wall charger for your home, or check charger installation costs with a vetted installer in your area.