Is your Chinese EV a ‘ticking time bomb’?

In the race to net zero, Australians have enthusiastically embraced batteries – in the floors of our electric cars and bolted to garage walls in our homes – as we do our bit to save the planet. But have we given control of our energy grid to a foreign entity, namely China, that in a time of conflict could flick a switch and bring the nation to its knees?

Or worse still, are these hundreds of thousands of batteries in our homes and cars ticking time bombs that can be exploded from afar when the moment is ripe?

The rapid uptake of Chinese home batteries and electric vehicles, cybersecurity experts warn, is placing Australia’s energy infrastructure at risk of foreign hijack with the potential to disrupt supply, or turn the batteries into bombs.

The warnings of these experts echo the grave concerns of former Turnbull government adviser Alastair MacGibbon, who recently said Canberra’s policies towards electric vehicles and home batteries were at odds with national security imperatives.

MacGibbon, now at the cybersecurity company CyberCX, said the millions of connected devices, which include home batteries and EVs, predominantly imported into Australia from China, could at some point be used against us.

“Let’s talk potential scenarios,” MacGibbon told the Financial Review Cyber Summit, acknowledging he was being controversial. “Take off the safety features of household batteries so that they overcharge. Take off those same safety features for electric vehicles. Just turn them off from the manufacturer so that those vehicles explode.”

The potential for peril is vast, as, it would appear, are the dilemmas this presents to the federal government. Former chief of army, Lieutenant General (retired) Peter Leahy, says the “ability of anyone to interdict our infrastructure, whether it be water or electricity, would be of deep concern to our national security”.

Home batteries and electric vehicles are central to the government’s emissions reduction strategy, and with its $2.3 billion home batteries program and car efficiency standards, Chinese products are pouring in. Chinese manufacturers account for more than 70 per cent of the home battery market, while 80 per cent of new electric vehicles coming into Australia are built in China.

And there’s also the thorny issue of these vehicles being used to spy and collect data. Last year, it was revealed that Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was warned by his own department to take “precautions” to protect himself and the nation’s secrets while driving his Chinese-made EV.

The US has banned all Chinese and Russian-made technology in cars and trucks, but more mobile eavesdropping and mapping machines are on the way to Australia. According to the Centre for International Economics, within 10 years, 43 per cent of cars we import will come from China.

The influx of batteries from a country that doesn’t share our strategic interests, without strict oversight and control, is a “reckless decision”, says Brian Craighead, founder of Energy Renaissance. “We’ve handed over the keys to the castle.”

His Hunter Valley factory, Australia’s only home battery maker, recently appointed administrators, but another arm of Energy Renaissance is developing batteries for military use, as there’s a great demand from defence forces around the world for batteries that are cyber-secure and not made by China.

In the US, Chinese batteries have been removed from military bases over security concerns, and the US Department of Defence will reportedly require all new military batteries installed by contractors on military bases to “source all components from American or allied-­nation sources”.

“The key here is who runs and controls the [battery] software,” Craighead says. The software in a modern battery controls when it charges and discharges, to avoid overcharging and overheating. So if those safeguards are overridden, and you “jam it full of more and more energy, eventually all hell breaks loose”.

It can cause a fire, as is common with electric bicycles, or it could cause an explosion. A house battery contains somewhere between 30 and 50 times the energy that a bike battery does.

Craighead says the potential for a hostile power that controls this system to cause immense chaos is very real and very frightening. “We need these systems to be as secure as the Reserve Bank’s gold vaults in Martin Place, not a suburban home with a key under the doormat.”

Richard McGregor, a China expert at the Lowy Institute, says the potential security issues with home and car batteries existed throughout the Australian economy, as Chinese technology powered everything from wind turbines to solar inverters and cranes on wharves and many other components essential to the running of the country.

“Are we willing to pay a huge mark-up for the batteries we need to gear up the green economy, and indeed rip out existing ones from industrial systems at huge cost, on the chance that there’ll be an actual shooting war over Taiwan, and Australia will be directly involved in it, and thus targeted by the Chinese?” he asks.

“That’s entirely possible, of course, though not at all certain, but it’s worth laying out how catastrophic such a scenario would be – that the dominant Chinese battery company, CATL, a private company, would on the orders of Beijing deliberately blow up or make their batteries inoperable not just in Australia, but in Japan, the US, the UK and any other country which China felt was getting in its way,” he says.

“And in doing so, they would lose those markets forever. The argument is that we may as well decouple now on our own terms, rather than later, on China’s terms. But we should also explore whether there is any way of derisking such doomsday scenarios.”

It’s a discussion experts say we should be having now because batteries are flooding in. The Clean Energy Council estimates 185,000 home batteries have been installed across Australia, and the government aims to install a million by 2030. Electric cars, too, are going to become an essential element of the power grid, charged by rooftop solar panels during the day, and then providing power to homes at night.

Department of Home Affairs head of national security Hamish Hansford admits there are risks associated with overseas technology products and services.

“The Australian government constantly looks at technology risks and acts where there is risk that needs to be mitigated,” he says. “The government is working with international partners on vehicle safety standards and has, for government staff, issued a note on managing the security risks associated with connected vehicles.”

But CISO Lens managing director James Turner, who advises senior cybersecurity executives at large corporations, says it may be too late.

“The time to take policy steps to block Chinese car brands from dominating the Australian marketplace was about three years ago,” Turner says. “The toothpaste is well and truly out of the tube.”

Craighead says that while it’s not too late, Australia needs to act swiftly. He says Australia’s Cybersecurity Act of 2024 was a solid start, requiring manufacturers to eliminate default passwords and maintain security updates from March 2026, but we need to recognise this is the floor, not the ceiling.

Australia, he says, has to create a visible certification program that means something to consumers, like Energy Star ratings, but for cybersecurity. “Make it matter financially by tying insurance premiums, energy rebates, grants, and approvals to certified equipment,” he says. “The market responds to incentives, not good intentions.”

The medical device sector has the Software Bill of Materials requirement, where every component needs documentation and accountability, and he said the battery sector should follow suit.

“What we need is enforcement with teeth and a clear message: if you want to connect to Australia’s grid, you prove your device won’t become someone else’s weapon,” Craighead says. “The technology isn’t the hard part – it’s creating consequences that make compliance cheaper than cutting corners.”