Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest slams Tesla’s Elon Musk over hydrogen

A battle of the inexperienced billionaires has damaged out, with Elon Musk’s standing as a ‘local weather avenger’ being referred to as into query by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest.

The Australian mining magnate launched a brutal takedown of the Tesla chief’s over his disdain of inexperienced hydrogen, which Mr Forrest has invested closely in.

“He ought to get out and ask himself ‘am I actually a local weather avenger or only a businessman?’; if he knocks hydrogen then we all know he’s simply in it for a buck,” the Fortescue Metals Group founder informed The Australian.

In Could, Mr Musk, who based electrical automotive maker Tesla, dismissed hydrogen as a promising supply of inexperienced power, calling hydro gas cells “essentially the most dumb factor I may presumably think about for power storage”.

“I actually can’t emphasise this sufficient — the variety of occasions I’ve been requested about hydrogen, it is perhaps … it’s effectively over 100 occasions, possibly 200 occasions,” Mr Musk mentioned.

Mr Forrest mentioned Mr Musk was a “good man” however advised he was in opposition to hydro gas cells as a result of it harmed his enterprise mannequin “which relies upon solely on batteries”.

Gas cell electrical autos mix hydrogen saved in a tank with oxygen from the air to supply electrical energy, with water the by-product which might come out of the tailpipe.

In contrast to battery-powered EVs, like Tesla automobiles, they don’t should be plugged in and are stuffed up like a standard gasoline or diesel car.

The know-how remains to be in its early days and Australians can’t but purchase a hydrogen automotive.

There are only a few hydrogen fuelling stations in Australia, with public stations solely positioned in Canberra and Melbourne.

Mr Forrest is in New York Metropolis to stipulate his firm’s new $US 6.2bn funding plan to exchange diesel and gasoline with photo voltaic and wind power inside eight years.

On a convention name to his firm on Tuesday, Mr Forrest mentioned he believed the group would “comfortably” meet its local weather ambitions.

“We would be the proof, if you’ll, that (with) the appropriate know-how, the appropriate technique, the appropriate funding, even main polluters like us can eradicate fossil gas use and keep away from tens of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions over time,” he mentioned.