Visitors to Brisbane’s Greenfest event this weekend will see Australia’s first fully electric, high-performance sports car, the Tesla Roadster, owned by technology entrepreneur Simon Hackett.

Greenfest, Australia's largest free green festival, is a three-day event starting this Friday, June 5, World Environment Day, at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.

Costing about $160,000, the Tesla Roadster has supercar performance. It accelerates to 100 km/h in less than four seconds, has a top speed of 200 km/h and can travel about 400 km on a single charge. The Roadster was air freighted from Tesla’s Californian factory to Australia earlier this year.

Mr. Hackett’s company, national broadband innovator Internode, is using the Tesla Roadster to demonstrate the fact that it is possible to be both “green” and high performance.

Last year, Internode achieved CO2-free status for its entire operation after undertaking a major greenhouse gas emission audit and purchasing the required offset carbon credits. Since September, Internode has used 100 per cent GreenPower™, generated from sources such as wind and solar.

Greenfest Director Colman Ridge said leaders like Internode and Tesla were showing the way forward through the unprecedented alignment of economic and environmental opportunity. “The Tesla at Greenfest asks a lot of the right questions about how we are going to create the greener economy successfully together,” he said.

Simon Hackett said he had brought the first Roadster to Australia to complement Internode’s green initiatives. “The point of the exercise is to demonstrate that it is possible to be both green and high performance: Like a Roadster – and, indeed, like Internode,” he said.

“I’ve been passionate about electric vehicles since I drove a GM EV-I electric car in California during the 1980s. I strongly believe that electric vehicles are the future of motoring and this is the most concrete way that I can personally contribute to educating people in Australia about just how real they are.

“In the Tesla, people can see what the future of cars looks like.”

More information about the Tesla Roadster is available at www.tesla.on.net

About Internode www.internode.on.net

Internode is a first tier IP carrier committed to using broadband technology to redefine the national telecommunications environment. The Australian-owned company is a trailblazer that delivers broadband services to individuals and businesses throughout Australia.

Internode PR for media assistance: Impress Media Australia www.impress.com.au

Call John Harris on (08) 8431 4000 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .