Tesla's electric cars come to Australia - and they could benefit the power market

Luxury electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors has taken Europe and the US by storm, recently launched in India, and is now making inroads in Australia.

Owners can charge their electric cars overnight, when electricity demand is lower. (AAP)

Tesla Motor’s first Australian show room officially opened in Sydney on Wednesday, a day after the first of its electric cars was delivered to an Australian customer.

The company - dubbed "the Apple of the automotive industry" - has a different business model than the pay-and-drive approach of most dealerships, with orders taken online following months of waiting.

Now, customers can test floor models in its St Leonards showroom and place an order online.

Currently, Tesla has installed recharge stations, or ‘superchargers’, at the Star casino and the St Leonards store.

They will place more recharge stations every 200km between Sydney and Melbourne next year, Tesla spokesperson Heath Walker said.

Those stations will be free for car owners, and some would be solar powered.

“It’s one of the best countries for solar,” Mr Walker said.

Tesla aims to build recharge stations every 200km between Sydney and Melbourne next year, and to north of Brisbane in 2016.

A map of where Tesla plans to install its recharge stations, or 'Supercharders', by 2016. (Pic:Tesla)

If electric cars became more popular in Australia, the demand for power would rise, Energy Supply Association of Australia policy advisor Ben Pryor said.

"But not a major spike if you did things sensibly," Mr Pryor said.

The technology was coming, and was already popular in California and Norway, he said.

Recharging with electricity was more cost effective than refueling, he said.

Electricity demand in the National Energy Market – NSW, Queensland, SA, WA and Tasmania – hit a low point this year, pitt&sherry’s CEDEX Electricity Update November 2014 report says.

Electricity generated during that time has also dropped.

Two charts from the latest CEDEX Electricity Update November 2014. (Charts: pitt&sherry)

Charts: pitt&sherry’s CEDEX® Electricity Update November 2014 

Mr Pryor said if people could charge their cars overnight then some under-utilised supply could be used.

Mr Walker said people with 40 amp chargers at home, depending on their house's power supply, could have a car charged to 100 per cent overnight.