Vinnies’ biggest annual fundraiser, the CEO Sleepout, goes online next week but will only raise about a third of last year’s haul

The annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout next week will be a virtual event online set to generate far less money than previous years

VINNIES SHAKE-UP

We don’t know yet if the pandemic-fuelled recession will trigger a spike in homelessness.

We do know that COVID-19 has forced a shake-up of the annual Vinnies CEO Sleepout, which raises huge sums across the nation to fight the social blight.

For the first time since kicking off 15 years ago, the charity effort will morph into an interactive online event when it plays out next week. (Never mind that the actual homeless probably don’t spend too much time on Zoom!)

Captains of industry across Brisbane plan to pitch tents in their own backyard, unfurl sleeping bags on couches or curl up in a car on the night of June 18.

There will be none of the usual camaraderie among the assembled throng, which saw nearly 200 gather last year to sleep rough at The Powerhouse and raise $977,140.

Rowland Geoff Rodgers.

Unfortunately, it looks like this year’s scaled-back virtual effort will generate far less of the folding stuff.

As of late Monday 159 CEOs across the city had collectively raised almost $195,000, well shy of the $300,000 target.

But some things don’t change.

Leading the pack once again is spin doctor Geoff Rodgers (illustrated), now in his tenth year doing the sleep-out.

The Rowland communications boss has managed to rustle up $36,448 from sponsors so far, easily making him the city leader and taking him to fourth place nationally.

Over the years Rodgers has raised nearly $400,000 for the cause. “On any given night, more than 116,000 Australians are homeless, a statistic that is totally unacceptable in modern society,’’ he said.

Rodgers told us that he will most likely crash out on his couch--and might just leave the windows wide open for plenty of cold night air.

Vinnies has a $2.4 million fundraising target nationally, far below the $7.9 million haul generated last year.

POWERED UP

Is Brisbane renewable power outfit Novonix poised to unveil a new commercial tie up with US electric vehicle maker Tesla?

There’s plenty of speculation floating around to that effect, given an intriguing series of links between the two companies.

Novonix, which just announced a $58 million capital raising last month, is focused on the development of lithium-ion battery materials and testing equipment.

At the same time, it’s understood that Tesla’s rather colourful (read eccentric) boss Elon Musk is getting ready to announce the development of a next-generation battery that could go a whopping 1 million miles.

Tesla boss Elon Musk.

The two camps already share deep ties with a bloke named Jeff Dahn, a highly-regarded battery innovator based at a university in Nova Scotia.

Novonix rose out of Dahn’s lab seven years ago and then, in 2016, he started working with Tesla.

Several of Dahn’s colleagues co-founded Novonix and are still active with the firm today.

Among them are Dr David Stevens, an ex-researcher with Dahn who now serves as chief technology officer at Novonix.

Dr Chris Burns, chief operating officer at Novonix, also worked as a researcher with Dahn and a battery research engineer at Tesla.

Novonix MD Philip St Baker was predictably tight-lipped about all this when he chatted with us on Monday.

He wouldn’t comment on the potential of a new contract with Tesla, citing standard “nondisclosure’’ agreements.

But St Baker noted that both Tesla and GM are focused on the million mile battery because of its obvious breakthrough potential.

He also said Novonix expects to start first production next year at a plant in the US to help fulfil a supply contract with Samsung.

All this possibility appears to have sparked a bit of excitement among investors over the past few weeks.

Novonix shares have surged from a low of 15 cents in March to a high of 76 cents last week. It settled at 68.5 cents on Friday.