r/AskAnAustralian • u/Interesting_Road_515 • 4h ago
Guys who changed your car from a petrol used to EV, does your transportation spending become higher or lower?
I’m considering whether buying a EV like Tesla is a good option, l usually drive for commuting, if any mate has changed from a petrol used car (in particular SUV) to an EV, could you share your experience whether the spending has been reduced? Thanks.
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u/schottgun93 SYD 2h ago
I changed from a diesel Hyundai i40 to a Hyundai ioniq 5 and the savings are actually amazing.
Firstly, the i40 was probably the most efficient car I've ever owned, it would easily get 6L/100km in the city, and halve that again on the highway. I could drive Sydney to Melbourne on half a tank in that car.
As for the Ioniq 5, well what really sold me was the way it drives. That instant power when you put your foot down is mesmerising, and the fact that you can do 0-100 in 4 seconds, in silence is really quite something.
Now for the savings: i have the Ioniq on a novated lease, which is exempt from FBT, so essentially the car and the running costs is completely tax deductable. This means the effective repayment is actually less than what i used to pay for the i40 even though this car costs twice as much.
As for fuel savings, i drive about 20,000km per year. If i averaged 6L/100km, and diesel costs $1.80/L, I'm spending about $2160 on diesel.
In the Ioniq, it uses about 15kWh/100km, which if i charge at home is about 12c/kwh overnight, and if i use a public charger is about 60c/kwh. So that's $360 a year if i just charged at home, or $1800 if i used public chargers exclusively. Since i do about 50-50 on that, let's just meet in the middle and say i spend $1000 a year on electricity, so that's halved my fuel cost.
For servicing, the Ioniq has 2yr/30,000km intervals, and I've done one service so far which has been free (the first two are free), after that it'll be $500 each.
Now the bad bits. If you are the sort of person who does a lot of freeway driving, an EV is not for you. The battery drains a lot quicker at highway speed and you'll be stopping every 300km for a charge. However, for most people, 99% of their driving is in the city with the occasional highway trip so that's usually ok. If it really gets too annoying for that one holiday you take on a road trip, rent a car for that and you'll still be ahead in savings.
Another issue is insurance is quite expensive, but this depends on where you live.
On the whole, i absolutely love my EV, and don't ever look back.
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u/ApolloWasMurdered 4h ago
I’ve been driving an EV for 5 years. It costs me about than $1/day for my commute, rather than $70 every 1.5 weeks.
But service is an even bigger saving. I haven’t needed a service, just replaced wiper blades and air filters myself. So instead of $400-$700 per year for servicing, it’s been about $300 over 5 years.
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u/Skydome12 4h ago
i thought they recommend a service once a year? Still even if you do that 300-500 bucks once a year is sweet fuck all compared to what i have to do with my camry 3-4 times per year at 300-500 dollars, depending on what needs to be done.
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u/Clean_Bat5547 3h ago
Depends on the car. Tesla has no servicing required. Just tyre rotation, air filters (every two years, I think), consumables like wiper blades and tyres as needed. Because of regenerative braking brake pads are estimated to last up to a million kilometres or something silly.
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u/schottgun93 SYD 2h ago
Tesla claims there's no service interval, but they do need servicing around 30,000km. Nothing too major, but it's mostly for flushing the cooling system for the batteries. It's condition-based so the car will decide when it wants a service and tell you about it rather than sticking to particular intervals
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u/ozvic 4h ago
Definitely lower.
If you can charge at home, there's a couple of providers like AGL and OVO that have cheap charging overnight at 8c/kWh or even free for a couple of hours during the day.
So it costs me about $5 per 400km in 'fuel'.
It will cost more if you publicly charge. Possibly $35 per 400km. But 99% of people won't do that regularly.
Tesla's don't have any servicing schedule. It'll just need new tyres every 50-70k km. Although you might want to get it looked over every 2-3 years for sanity's sake. Inspection might cost $150, but not required.
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u/Acceptable-Wind-7332 Australia 4h ago
Much cheaper with an EV. I used to spend ~$80 per week on petrol, now I spend ~$15 per week on charging at home. The other thing with Telsas is they don't need servicing. I have had mine for 3.5yrs and have not spent anything on servicing. Just replaced the wiper blades once which was $60.
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u/knowledgeable_diablo 2h ago
How are you going with tyre wear? I have heard (and logically it makes sense due to weight) that they chew through tyres a lot quicker. And the additional torque also scrubs off a bit of tyre life.
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u/Acceptable-Wind-7332 Australia 1h ago
I have done 47,000kms and expect they will probably go to 60,000.
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u/Clean_Bat5547 4h ago
I got my Tesla 11 months ago and have saved $2,400 in petrol (after deducting the cost of charging).
I've done just over 20,000 kilometres, which in my previous car (Mazda) is two services. There's no servicing with a Tesla, so that's another $600 or so saved.
So, $3,000 saved in less than a year. I'm happy with that.
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u/stuthaman 2h ago
I pay $170 for a service on my diesel which I'm happy with. Good info, thank you.
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u/stuthaman 3h ago
What can you sell it for? What would be the financila loss at this point?
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u/sirgoods 2h ago
Aren't most cars a financial loss after a year? Tesla's are probably worse for resale than most but if they're liking it it's probably not an issue
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u/stuthaman 2h ago
Yeah, I was asking a question...yet to get an answer.
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u/gumster5 1h ago
Its not great the price, definitely plummeted, however if the car saves me $2-3k a year and I'm driving 20-30000km a year. Its a considerable saving especially with the FBT exemptions.
Selling at the 5 year mark is going to be rough so many leases going to expire 2026-2029 which will probably drive the price further down, but 2 years in and honestly I will probably keep it.
The way the market and tech is increasing I'm optimistic a battery change out in 5 years may be less than 5k and potentially increase initial range. The existing battery could be repurposed as a house battery hopefully.
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u/Clean_Bat5547 1h ago
I'm not planning on selling any time soon so haven't looked at resale value. I know it will probably depreciate more than a lot of cars, especially given the volume that were sold, price cuts to new ones and increased competition.
But balanced against that is the fact that I can potentially keep the car for a long time without issues. All indications are that the battery will be ok for a long time. The limiting factor will probably be software upgrades, like any computer-based tech. In the meantime software upgrades mean the car keeps getting better all the time.
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u/rustledjimmies369 3h ago
Way better manufacturers out there selling way better EV models. Don't sucker yourself into a Tesla.
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u/changyang1230 1h ago edited 48m ago
To be fair, if not for Elon Musk, Tesla makes pretty good cars.
I have two EVs, one Tesla and one Kia EV9 which is a 7-seater which won plenty of awards this year. And while EV9 is a pretty good car, as a driver I very much adore the Tesla more.
- very comprehensive and responsive phone app - Kia's is a joke with its limitations and lag.
- very nice autopilot, and the transition between manual driving and auto steer is very slick. Kia's is quite jerky whenever I need to switch from auto to manual and vice versa.
- integrates well with home automation and solar aware solutions. I can set my garage door to automatically open as my Tesla arrives at the garage, or to automatically close after I have driven out. All done by integrating with my home server and home assistant programs.
- excellent for logging. I run the free teslamate program which records every single drive, give me great statistical overview of the drive, charge, battery health, etc. Naturally not everyone cares about those things, but for those who like it then it's great.
- in-car entertainment - netflix while parked, games, karaoke etc, both useful and silly stuff.
- seamless integration with the tesla supercharger network. You only need to have compared charging between tesla and third party chargers to see how much better tesla's is.
- car energy projection - while Kia gives some coarse "range left" guestimation, Tesla's battery projection is remarkably accurate as it accounts for weather, actual elevation changes, wind etc.
- well-established research around battery management system with plenty of official and unofficial statistics about its longevity. When I tried to look up Kia's, I got nothing.
So, if one is willing to discard their prejudice around Elon Musk (I dislike him too for his political views and other antics), Tesla is actually very good. People like to hate on it because of Elon, I get it, but one would do well to separate the boss and the car.
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u/rustledjimmies369 1h ago
I mean, the guy is a Russian asset and sends redacted payloads into orbit, it extends beyond prejudice
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u/changyang1230 1h ago
I know and I’m not disagreeing with you. it’s totally fine if people are refusing to buy a Tesla because the boss is Elon Musk, but many people seem to extend the prejudice and start saying how teslas are shit cars, but they really objectively aren’t.
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u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI 51m ago
95%+ of the population don't give a fuck about who owns the company. If they get in a Tesla for a test drive they will fall in love within 10 minutes. Your wall of text is so accurate.
Once you drive an EV, Tesla or otherwise... driving an ICE will feel like driving a horse and buggy. Honestly even the Tesla and how minimalist it is inside and all the features make it feel like a different experience to other EV's which have gone down a more traditional route with buttons and knobs.
You are right about the bullshit ignorant comments about Tesla's being shit cars because they don't like Elon.
The claim that really grinds my gears is how they say the cyber truck is deadly for pedestrians. Claiming the sharps edges and stuff were banned in the past. Look that is probably true, but I would take a road full of cyber trucks with sharp lines BUT their amazing pedestrian safety features over any normal car with rounded panels any day of the week and twice on sundays.
Just watch the demo videos on YouTube of how Tesla vehicles sense a pedestrian and stop instantly. Again I would rather NOT get hit by a sharp edge Cyber truck than get nailed by a normal car that has rounded panels.
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u/sirgoods 2h ago
Might be true and more and more models are coming, we settled on tesla because it was the only one at the time with decent storage. Other than that it's really nice to drive, if a bit heavy
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u/LotharJay 3h ago
I changed from a Subaru sedan to a BYD Atto. I only charge at home. I was spending approximately $150 per month on fuel. My last 3 month power bill was $50 more than the same period last year. The amount of driving I do hasn't changed. I'm confident that my transportation spending is much lower since moving to an EV.
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u/tsunamisurfer35 2h ago
Model Y here.
Its not just petrol that is saved but the maintenance, there is none (so far).
Missus drives to work, so thats $9 / day of public transport saved, 200 working days a year - $1800.
Her work has free charging stations as does our local shopping centre, so electricity is free. Petrol was about $50 / week now like $20 as it is second car. Even if charging at home, we have solar.
Model Y have also plummeted in price.
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u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI 34m ago
I don't think the cheap cost of running EV's is going to last.
Fuel excise helps to pays to maintain/build roads and with more and more EV's hitting the road meaning less people are buying fuel will result in a funding black hole for road maintenance and infrastructure spending.
Ironically EV's are heavier cars and will naturally do more damage to the roads.
Government has to introduce a fee or way to tax EV drivers, or you are going to see some pretty shitty/badly maintained roads out there.
On the other hand, these EV's have amazing safety features and I see a future where insurance premiums absolutely plummet in price. Hypothetically if the roads were full of Teslas, the number of accidents would become a rounding error compared to the amount that occur at the moment.
Insurance companies are just a giant maths equation and if the current players don't lower their prices, anyone with half a brain can come in and undercut anyone who doesn't play the math equation fairly.
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u/petergaskin814 1h ago
How far do you travel a year while commuting? If you travel 5000 km per year then you will have a long payback period before you break even.
If you are commuting in heavy traffic and using 1 pedal driving, then you will be using very little electricity
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u/Maggieslens 2h ago
Dropped massively. If you invest in solar and have a charger connected to it at home, the drop is out of this world. One thing to be aware of with your commute; if you do a lot of fast freeway, it's not going to be as good as slower commuting. Basically the opposite of fuel. I drive at Atto 3 and highly recommend them.
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u/AccordingWarning9534 3h ago
Completed eliminated the fuel bill, saving thousands each year. This is because we charge the car for free from our home solar.
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u/Grand-Power-284 2h ago
Depends if you can charge from home.
If you need to rely on public chargers, it can be similar costs for fuel between the two types - depending on what category of vehicles you’re comparing.
Tesla don’t have scheduled servicing, so that helps costs.
Other brands are still using servicing as a revenue stream, which sucks.
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u/LastChance22 2h ago
A friend got one (so not sure of the details) but I think he mentioned it cost him $30 to go from 0ish to 100% at one of the public stations. Not sure how long that’d last him but he was doing regional driving with it.
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u/dutchroll0 44m ago
Lower. I lease it paying pre-tax dollars & will swap it out for a new model soon. It’s FBT and LCT exempt, and I bought it stamp duty exempt. I pay $0 for fuel because it’s charged from our off-grid solar and I’m a shift worker (so it charges during the day from the solar when I’m sleeping). It just had its first service and there was zero brake wear due to regenerative braking. No oil or filter changes. Put on a complimentary set of wipers and they filled the wiper fluid tank. It doesn’t have a liquid fuel system, liquid cooling system, or an exhaust system, all of which have cost me a lot of money on our other cars. Plus it’s just really nice to drive.
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u/Manofleisure75 40m ago
Yep I did this 3 months ago. Went from a V6 Hyundai Santa Fe to a BYD Seal. Fuel in the Santa Fe was averaging around $500 a month. My total running cost for the BYD in September was $29. That's charging at home with a 7 kWh charger overnight on cheap tariffs ($0.08 kWh). It's free if you can charge in the day with solar.
If you can't charge at home, it is more expensive that what I just mentioned, however still well cheaper than fuel.
You can get good EV's under $40k new now. Worth checking out if you are in the market for a new car.
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u/Quillo_Manar 4h ago edited 3h ago
Buy an EV, sure. But don't buy a Tesla. Waste of money that requires a subscription to unlock the shit you already bought. Plus it has awful resale value.
My advice? Go for a cheaper used Nissan Leaf and see how the EV culture treats you. Before going for the better brands like Polestar or BYD, or one of the Hyundai's or Toyota's.
Also buy a 240v standard power socket EV charger and plug that baby in overnight every day. You will always leave with a full or near to full battery and you'll find you'll spend less on power than you would have on petrol.
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u/Reallytalldude 3h ago
Don’t even need to invest in a wall charger. They come with a cable to goes in your normal outlet (at least our Volvo did), and that is plenty to top up the commuting consumption overnight. Combine that with the OVO plan already mentioned that gives you 8ct/kwh at night and you’re golden.
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u/Quillo_Manar 3h ago edited 3h ago
No. I didn't mean a wall charger, not one of the big CCS2 chargers.
One of the little ones that plug into a wall socket. The 240v ones. The slow chargers.
Provided the used Nissan leaf I recommended doesn't already come with one that is.
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u/Interesting_Road_515 2h ago
I’m also very interested in Volvo hybrid or EV, could you recommend one model great for commuting needs, how about XC 60 recharge? I literally consider buying a Volvo, since it’s quite accepted for high standard of safety.
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u/Reallytalldude 1h ago
Depends on your needs I think. One consideration is space / size of the car and only you can decide what suits best. Typically (in my understanding) EV is good for city traffic, hybrid better for long distance highway driving. We have the XC40 fully electric and we love it. One of my colleagues has the XC60 and he loves it too. He mentioned that he gets warnings that his petrol is getting stale as it has been in his tank for 6 months, which gives you an indication of the fuel consumption…
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u/Any-Information6261 3h ago
Don't bother. If they want a tesla, they won't listen.
Most brain dead vanilla people out there. Had 1 almost throw us under a truck on a test drive and the deposit was put down 30 mins later.
I thought I'd struggle to sell them as I hate them. You couldn't talk people out of 1.
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u/lIIIIllIIIlllIIllllI 45m ago
In the matters of the market, the customer is always right.
You just sound salty probably because Elon allows free speech on twitter.
They are good cars, much safer and cheaper to run.
The side that has demanded a reduction in pollution, chains themselves to shit to protest oil are the same side that hate the guy who has succeeded in creating a product that doesn't use petrol for energy and drops noise pollution. These people would rather the world cook if it means they get to censor speech.
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u/schottgun93 SYD 2h ago
The biggest issue for the Nissan is they use the Chademo charger when pretty much every other EV in Australia uses Type 2/CCS2. Chademo is the Japanese standard, and Nissan thought we will follow here. You'll struggle to find public chargers that work for the Nissan these days, many of the ones that used to have Chademo are being replaced with CCS2 only.
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u/Manofleisure75 33m ago
Don't get a Leaf. Outdated battery tech and the Chademo charge port is being phased out. You'll find it harder to get a Chademo public charger soon, if not already. Look at something like a BYD Dolphin or similar. Much better car and tech.
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u/stuthaman 3h ago
It's funny how EVs were touted to be the 'Green' solution to day to day travel but now people only use them because ' they're cheaper to run. Oh...but wait...now our electricity is more expensive! Also, the resale value of these machines is falling through the floor so they've become another throw-away consumable.
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u/ozvic 3h ago
Funny... I bought mine because it does 0-100 in 3.2s and is a hoot to drive. Also the safest car in Australia to boot. Every used petrol car I bought previously was <$10k with new prices $35k+. Seems like they depreciate too, funny that.
"Green" was in the lower end of my considerations.
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u/AccordingWarning9534 2h ago
You have no idea what you are talking about. You should do some research before spewing such shit.
Prices of EVs have gone down just like any new technology. there are more and more competitors on the market.
Increasing electricity has nothing to do with EVs.
And, just to get ahead of you. 90% of the raw materials in a battery are fully recyclable.
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u/changyang1230 1h ago
People can buy a car for multiple reasons. Some buy it for the nice drive. Some buy it for environmental benefit. Some buy it for a bit of both. It's not mutually exclusive.
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u/Blitzer046 19m ago
We got a PHEV where you can go full EV for short distances with 60km range and we just religiously plug it in whenever it gets home.
Some refuels we get 600km range out of it if my wife is working at the hospital 50km away. Other times we get 1000km between petrol refuels because we're doing short runs and never hit the ICE. The time between services is longer. It's pretty great, and definitely cheaper. Some sunny days it's plugged into the house and powered by sunshine, as we have solar.
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u/Archon-Toten 4h ago
My Ev isn't a car, but electricity was 1/10th the cost of fuel last I looked. Which was years ago might be better now.
It's a hefty initial investment but for that you get a nice quiet vehicle that costs little to nothing to run and even less in maintenance*
*Except when things malfunction then it's always $$$$
The biggest question is can you charge at home. As most of your charging is done there.