While many people choose to drive an Electric Vehicle to reduce (or eliminate) noxious exhaust emissions, the lower day-to-day running costs of an EV are also a significant motivation for many people switching to an EV. The daily running costs of a EV are significantly less than the costs of running a vehicle with an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). In fact daily EV running costs can be almost zero if your electricity is being generated by solar panels.
While the main ongoing costs associated with running a car – fuel, regular servicing and maintenance/repairs – are considerably less for an EV than the costs for an equivalent ICE-powered vehicle, at the time of writing the initial purchase price of an EV is considerably more than an equivalent ICE vehicle.
So, let’s compare the ongoing running costs of an EV to the equivalent costs of an ICE vehicle. In an effort to compare ‘apples with apples’, let’s compare an MG ICE vehicle and an MG EV…
Initial Purchase
I won’t try to make a per km or per year comparison in relation to initial purchase price, coz there are way too many variables including resale values, vehicle longevity, interest costs (if borrowing money, or forgoing invested funds to purchase), etc. Let’s just say that the EV incurs at least a 30-40% up-front premium on the cost of a similar non-electric vehicle. (2025 update – this difference is narrowing pretty quickly.)
At the time of writing, the MG used in these examples was the cheapest EV on the Australian market – other EVs are considerably more expensive. Also be aware that some state governments here in Australia (and no doubt elsewhere) are offering EV purchase subsidies – currently in Queensland this subsidy is up to $6000.
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- An MG Essence ZST, with an internal combustion engine costs $35,000.
- The equivalent MG Essence ZS EV costs $51,000 (less govt subsidy)
Insurance & Registration
Insurance and registration costs have not been included in the information below.
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- Registration of an EV may be more expensive if a weight tax is included in the registration costs.
- My experience with insurance is that comprehensive insurance for our 2021 EV was significantly less than the equivalent insurance value for our 2016 ICE vehicle. Advice – shop around.
Running costs – EV vs ICE
Petrol & Diesel
An internal combustion engine in a medium-sized family SUV uses fuel at a rate of around 8 litres per 100 km of travel.
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- That’s 1 litre of fuel for every 12.5 kms travelled.
- At $2.25 per litre (September 2023) that’s around $0.18 per km, or
- $18.00 per 100km
Electricity – at Home
A medium size battery-powered SUV consumes around 18 kWh of stored electrical energy per 100 km on the highway. That’s around 1 kWh for each 5.5 kms travelled. (It’s a bit better than that around town, but let’s work on a conservative ‘worst case’ scenario!)
We have recently switched our grid electricity supply to AGL, to take advantage of their Night Saver EV Plan. If recharging from our ‘General’ home electricity supply during ‘peak’ periods with no solar input we are paying 34c / kWh (September 2023)….
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- Recharging 1 kWh of stored electrical energy for each 5.5 kms travelled.
- At $0.34 per kWh that’s around $0.06 per km, or
- $6.00 per 100 km
If recharging on our EV Off-Peak rate, between 12:00 am and 6:00 am, we are paying 8c / kWh (September 2023)….
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- Recharging 1 kWh of stored electrical energy for each 5.5 kms travelled.
- At $0.08 per kWh that’s less than $0.02 per km, or
- $1.50 per 100 km
Less again if recharging on a sunny day, using solar-generated electricity. (Though that calculation needs to be balanced with the Feed In Tariff that you would otherwise be receiving for the electricity being used to charge your car!)
Electricity – Public chargers
If using only public fast chargers you will be paying around 60c / kWh….
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- Recharging 1 kWh of stored electrical energy for each 5.5 kms travelled.
- At $0.60 per kWh, that’s around $0.11 per km, or
- $11.00 per 100 km
* Home electricity costs based on AGL Night Saver EV Plan
* You must have a Smart Meter installed for the AGL EV plan
Solar charging for free?
Energy produced by your solar panels at home is ‘free’. However, how much of that energy is available to charge your EV depends on the generation capacity of your system. and how many other appliances are consuming that solar-generated energy.
If your solar output is initially being consumed by local appliances (with the excess being sold back to the grid) then you will need to calculate/estimate how much of your solar-generated energy is available for your EV charging – keeping in mind that other appliances, like pool pumps, etc, are also consuming the available energy during the day.
You also need to consider the overall capacity of your solar system in relation to the consumption rate of your vehicle’s charging appliances. A vehicle connected to the portable charger supplied with the vehicle (aka a trickle charger or granny charger) consumes energy at the rate of around 2kW. A vehicle connected to a single-phase wall connector will consume energy at around 7kW.
Assuming that no other appliances are consuming your solar-generated energy output (and the sun is shining)….
- If you have a solar system rated at 4.2 kW….
- Solar-generated energy will cover 100% of your 2kW ‘granny charger’ (Charging cost will be $0.00 / kWh)
- Solar-generated energy will cover 60% of your 7kW wall connector (Charging cost will be $0.20 / kWh)
- If you have a solar system rated at > 7 kW….
- Solar-generated energy will cover 100% of your 2kW ‘granny charger’ (Charging cost will be $0.00 / kWh)
- Solar-generated energy will cover 100% of your 7kW wall connector (Charging cost will be $0.00 / kWh)
Of course, this is only during the day, when the sun is shining – and your solar output will vary depending on the time of day/year.
Electricity / charging costs
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Servicing and Maintenance
This is not always straightforward to estimate, as mechanical wear and tear varies from car to car, depending on age and driving conditions.
So, to make a rough comparison, let’s consider the first 5 years / 60,000 kms of vehicle ownership, comparing dealer servicing of MG ZST Essence and MG ZS EV Essence models at recommended service intervals (from MG Service Centre – late 2023)….
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- MG ZST – Scheduled service at 10,000 km = $264 | 20,000 km = $313 | 30,000 km = $316 | 40,000 km = $487 | 50,000 km = $264 | 60,000 km = $366.
- $2010 for 60,000 km
- $335 per 10,000 kms
- $0.03 per km
- MG ZS EV – Scheduled service at 20,000 km = $193 | 40,000 km = $295 | 60,000 km = $193.
- $681 for 60,000 kms
- $113.50 per 10,000 kms
- $0.01 per km
- MG ZST – Scheduled service at 10,000 km = $264 | 20,000 km = $313 | 30,000 km = $316 | 40,000 km = $487 | 50,000 km = $264 | 60,000 km = $366.
Overall Cost Comparison
The table below is a summary of the information above…
Electricity costs based on AGL Night Saver EV Plan
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