Tesla is shaking up the traditional gasoline-guzzling automotive industry by producing vehicles that need to be plugged in to a power point to be “refuelled” rather than having to spend money on petrol at a service station.

The Tesla electric car is powered by lithium-ion batteries very similar to those in your laptop computer – except these are much more powerful. They have an inbuilt over-heating safety mechanism, and the battery system automatically disconnects the main power source in the event of an accident.

The car comes in single and dual engine versions: the Model S 70 and Model S 85 but both offer the same benefit – zero emissions, which is good news for environmentally-conscious car owners.

The Tesla Model S isn’t cheap – prices starts at around $115,000 so it’s definitely in the luxury car market segment. But there’s a new system for powering the car that will actually save owners money on their home electricity bill.

At present owners simply plug in their Tesla vehicles at home to charge, but the soon-to-be-introduced Tesla Powerwall will power your car and your house.

The Powerwall is a wall-mounted home storage battery that will allow you to charge up your car in six hours by using electricity from your home’s solar panels. The standard version is the 7kWh Powerwall although there will also be a 10kWh Powerwall available. It stores solar electricity from your panels which can be used for the car and your home. You could potentially disconnect from the energy grid entirely, or sell excess solar electricity back to your power supplier.

The other great news for Australian Tesla owners is the introduction of charging stations around the country. Mirroring its initiative in the US, the company has begun to introduce SuperCharger stations along various highways – there are now six along the Melbourne to Sydney highway route including Wodonga and Goulburn, with more expected at Gundagai and Euroa and in Queensland in 2016.

So owners can stop and “top up” without having to go home and plug in.