Here are some stats and observations from the one-year mark of EV ownership, as a one-car family.
🔹 Distance Covered: 22,031 km.
🔹 Other Tesla Drivers: Frequently other Tesla drivers wave at you while driving or stopped at lights. It’s awkward.
🔹 Electricity Costs: Total spend on electricity for the car was $234 for the year, with an estimated fuel saving of $3,179.
🔹 Charge Location: For the first ten months, we lived in an apartment without off-street parking and were 100% reliant on public and kerbside chargers, this was initially all provided for free (courtesy of Newcastle Council). However, last month pricing was introduced as EV uptake has grown. We have since moved into a house with off-street parking, making charging far simpler.
🔹 Wait Times: Throughout the year, we only waited once to charge—40 mins at an NRMA charger at “The Farm” cafe in Byron Bay. We’ve noticed public chargers getting busier, especially during public and school holidays.
🔹 Vehicle Downtime: Our car was stationary 87% of the time last year, with 14% of that time spent charging.
🔹 Range Anxiety: Concerns about range disappeared about two weeks after purchase, once we downloaded all the apps and located our nearest public chargers. We took the car on some 1,100 km road trips, to Stradbroke Island and back without any issues, even getting it on the barge.
🔹 Electricity Total Consumption: Interestingly, our car’s electricity consumption (nearly 4 MWh for the year) nearly matches our total household electricity consumption.
Anders Sangkuhl is regulatory strategy management at Essential Energy. Story first posted on his LinkedIn page, reproduced here with permission.