The staggering cost savings from driving an electric vehicle

I have a smile on my face because I just renewed my rego for my Tesla Model 3 in my home state of Queensland. I used to drive a Hyundai Sonata V6 and pay over a thousand dollars a year. The Model 3 is registered as a four cylinder (no idea why) and only costs $678. That’s quite a saving over the cars’ lifetime.

Add to that the cost of petrol – which just hit $1.80 per litre – and EV owners are laughing all the way to the bank. I can drive as far on one kWh of electricity as I used to drive on 1 litre of petrol. Electricity only cost 13 cents a kw on off peak rates.

So, rego is half price and fuel is a staggering 1/14th of the cost. I have had my Model 3 for two years, and driven 60,000km. I have replaced two tires, which I would have done on an ICE car anyway – but no oil changes, oil filters, or whatever it is they do now when they take your car from you and give it back with a big bill.

I just checked the Hyundai website – by 60,000kms travelled, the engine oil would have been replaced 5 times, and the air filter once, with a lot of checking and inspecting at a cost of around $1500.

So, each year I am saving $600 on rego, $400 on servicing (at least) and about $3,000 on petrol. The petrol difference is hard to judge because, unlike electricity, petrol goes up and down each week – always ending up higher of course.

I recently drove from Brisbane to Winton in Queensland, a distance of over 3000 km – and spent about $60 of electricity (partly due to the generosity of the motels we stayed at with destination chargers.

ICE car buyers just don’t get the concept of the total cost of ownership. Ignore the cost of buying the machine – have a look at what it costs to run it!

David Waterworth is a researcher and writer, a retired teacher who divides his time between looking after his grandchildren and trying to make sure they have a planet to live on.