How much does an EV cost to own in Australia? And which is the cheapest? Complete guide to the price of buying and running an electric car

Driving an electric car can now be cheaper than buying a petrol or hybrid car – if you choose wisely and if you live in a state where EV rebates and incentives are offered.

Exclusive data crunched by EV Central shows that owning and running an EV can cost less than $21 per day over five years and 75,000km of driving if you buy the car in NSW, where rebates and tax discounts of up to $5540 are offered by the government.

We crunched the numbers for every EV on sale in NSW, Victoria and Queensland in September 2021. While we’ve summarised the results in the table mid-way through this article, we’ve also included the full calculations and methodology further down. Click these links to learn more:

QUICK LINKS
How we crunched the EV running costs numbers
Detailed EV ownership and running costs for NSW
Detailed EV ownership and running costs for Victoria
Detailed EV ownership and running costs for Queensland
Complete guide to rebates, discounts and incentives when buying and EV in Australia

EV vs petrol or hybrid: Which is cheaper to own?

For comparative purposes we also included some of the most popular ICE cars on the market, including the Toyota Camry Hybrid, Mazda3 and Subaru Forester.

EV running costs are slightly higher in Victoria, where the controversial EV road user tax adds 2.5 cents to every kilometre travelled – or $1875 over 75,000km – to take the gloss off the potential $3000 EV rebate offered in that state.

And in Queensland the marginally lower registration charges – which can save $290 over five years – offer little incentive to transition to an EV. However, for EVs costing more than $100K – when rebates and incentives are reduced or non-existent – Queensland became the most affordable place to own and run a premium electric car on the basis of its lower registration costs.

It’s a stark display of the impact rebates and incentives – and where you live – can have on the cost of owning an EV.

In NSW, the government’s EV rebate and tax break can save up to $3.03 per day over five years of ownership.

So while the MG ZS EV, Hyundai Ioniq and Nissan Leaf all proved cheaper to own in NSW than the ICE cars we compared them with, in Queensland and Victoria the lack of additional incentives diluted their advantages in lower energy costs (fuel or electricity) and lower servicing charges.

But four EVs – including the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus – proved cheaper to own and run than the Subaru Forester 2.5i-L that was used as our mid-sized SUV benchmark.

The most affordable Tesla has benefited from multiple price decreases as its prime prestige rivals have increased in price.

EV resale values compared

The Model 3 SR+ also has remarkably strong resale predictions according to industry bible Redbook.com.au. Redbook estimates a Model 3 Standard Range Plus will still be worth $40,150 after five years and 80,000km, representing depreciation of just 33 percent. By comparison, the BMW 320i and Mercedes-Benz C200 are both forecast to lose 58 percent of their value over the same period.

It’s those improving residual values at the more affordable end of the electric car market that played a big role in making EVs cheaper to run, according to our exclusive data.

And there are still lower running costs to look forward to with the latest breed of EVs.

Our running costs analysis took into account everything from the initial purchase price with dealer delivery and stamp duty to depreciation, the cost of replacement tyres and paying for electricity.

And we didn’t give EVs a free run. We accounted for anticipated higher tyre use on EVs, which are typically heavier than their ICE counterparts and put added pressure on rubber due to the near-instant torque delivery.

We also assumed EV owners would pay for all their electricity at a rate of 25c per kilowatt-hour; in many instances owners of electric cars will charge for free at shopping centres or using home solar or taking advantage of subscription services available on many luxury models.

To add rigour to our inaugural EV running costs analysis we also picked a handful of popular petrol- and diesel-powered models that could be considered rivals for the growing range of EVs on the market.

The cheapest EVs to own in Australia

We crunched running costs data on every EV on sale in September 2021.

We didn’t get every variant; there are four different flavours of Porsche Taycan, for example, and that’s before you include the just-arrived Cross Turismo. And for the Tesla Model 3 – the top selling EV in Australia – we only ran the numbers on the Standard Range Plus and the Long Range.

It also meant we missed out on some of the most eagerly awaited new arrivals, such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Polestar 2.

While in some instances we had pricing of those soon-to-arrive models, we couldn’t get hold of estimated insurance premiums and other data crucial to our numbers.

We plan to rerun the numbers in future for those EVs and more.

And it’s the Hyundai Ioniq that leads the way on EV frugality, narrowly edging out the MG ZS EV that is the cheapest EV currently on sale.

Both cost less than one of the least-costly ICE cars on the market, the entry-level version of the Toyota Camry Hybrid, according to our extensive analysis of buying and operating a car for five years and 75,000km.

Obviously state-specific policies make ownership costs of each vehicle more expensive in some regions than in others (Victoria’s per-kilometre charge the case in point), but interestingly, it rarely changed the order of our national winners; the price of running a Tesla Model 3 SR+ was a rare exception in Queensland, mainly because Tesla passes on savings of lower stamp duty rates whereas other EVs at the affordable end of the spectrum tend to have Australia-wide drive-away pricing.

And so, the cheapest EVs to own in Australia are:

1. MG ZS EV

Daily running costs: $20.41 (NSW), $21.80 (Victoria), $22.05 (Queensland)

It helps that the MG ZS EV is the most affordable EV on the market, and even with a recent price increase to $44,990 drive-away, it has less money to lose over five years of ownership.

Even though Redbook forecast the MG would lose 48 percent of its purchase price it amounted to $21,840 – the second lowest of every EV on the market – to help reduce the total cost of ownership.

While the MG didn’t stand out elsewhere, it also didn’t have any big costs to penalise it.

And benefiting from almost $4300 of NSW government rebates saves about 10 percent on its total five-year running costs.

The benefits are less pronounced in Victoria and Queensland but the MG still emerges as the most affordable EV to own.

2. Hyundai Ioniq

Daily running costs: $20.64 (NSW), $22.33 (Victoria), $22.13 (Queensland)

The plain old Hyundai Ioniq to some extent sits in the shadows of the Kona Electric and upcoming Ioniq 5 (which is a completely different vehicle).

But its low-ish price of entry, cheap-to-replace tyres and frugal energy usage make it an affordable EV to own.

Oddly, though, the Ioniq costs a lot more to service than the Kona Electric that comes from the same company. If the servicing costs had been closer to those of the Kona EV then the Ioniq would have emerged as the cheapest electric car to run.

As it stands, it sits at a close second.

3. Nissan Leaf

Daily running costs: $20.83 (NSW), $22.41 (Victoria), $22.66 (Queensland)

One of the pioneers of electric cars in Australia – the Nissan Leaf – is also one of the cheapest to own.

Slightly higher insurance costs didn’t help its EV charge, although it still managed to blast onto the podium courtesy of well-contained costs across the board.

There’s another potential bonus in the Leaf’s money-saving artillery: bi-directional charging.

The ability to feed electricity back into the grid or use it to power your home – once regulatory approval is granted – has the potential for the Leaf to save you money or even earn some pocket money.

The Leaf is currently the only pure electric car on the market with V2G functionality.

4. Tesla Model 3 SR

Daily running costs: $21.16 (NSW), $23.22 (Victoria), $22.59 (Queensland)

Excellent predicted Redbook resale figures – backed up by healthy used car values – help make the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus one of the most affordable EVs to run.

And in Queensland it makes it onto the EV podium for running costs. That’s because Tesla has different state-by-state pricing (to account for different taxes and registration costs) whereas most EVs around its pricepoint have an Australia-wide drive-away price. So whereas it is fractionally more expensive to own than a Nissan Leaf in NSW and Victoria, the lower drive-away price for an SR+ in Queensland helps it just slide past the Nissan for overall running costs.

And it’s easy to see the Model 3 appeal.

Yes, you get lashings of tech and one of the better-driving EVs at the affordable end of the EV market, but the fact Redbook suggests you’ll only drop 33 percent of the original purchase price takes a lot of the sting out of the first five years of ownership.

Having the most efficient energy costs of any new car – less than half the petrol costs of a Toyota Camry Hybrid – also helps.

One negative is insurance. The Model 3 SR+ is not particularly affordable to insure. Sharper insurance rates would have had the most affordable Model 3 as the most affordable EV to run.

5. Nissan Leaf e+

Daily running costs: $24.13 (NSW), $26.02 (Victoria), $26.27 (Queensland)

A bigger battery producing more power makes the Nissan Leaf e+ a better vehicle to drive, plus it’ll go further on a charge.

But those bigger batteries also add weight, which increases electricity use.

Plus the Leaf e+ is more expensive to insure and because of its higher purchase price drops more in depreciation.

Still, it’s relatively affordable to run and still performs admirably, all with the potential advantages the vehicle-to-grid charging capability brings.

6. Mini Electric

Daily running costs: $24.72 (NSW), $26.52 (Victoria), $26.77 (Queensland)

The Mini Electric is a surprise. We didn’t expect it to perform so well in our EV running costs analysis.

It helps that the all-electric Mini hatch has very reasonable servicing costs and doesn’t use much electricity (in part because it has quite a small battery, so isn’t as heavy as some).

Sneaking in under the EV rebate caps also helps and for its playfulness and premium positioning the insurance costs are respectable. For as little as $25 a day it’s a decent way to get all those Mini attractions without ever having to visit a petrol station.

7. Hyundai Kona Extended Range

Daily running costs: $24.80 (NSW), $26.65 (Victoria), $26.32 (Queensland)

The timing of the recently-released Kona Standard Range meant we could not crunch the running costs analysis, so instead we stuck with the recently-rebranded Kona Extended Range.

With a long real-world EV range – its 484km even beats the Model 3 SR+ – and punchy electric motor driving the front wheels it makes for an attractive proposition.

The Kona EV also has relatively affordable insurance estimates and replacement tyres as well as some of the most affordable servicing of any new car.

8. Tesla Model 3 Long Range

Daily running costs: $27.60 (NSW), $30.00 (Victoria), $27.56 (Queensland)

We wanted to see how the Long Range version of the Model 3 would stack up.

Being more expensive from the outset, the dual-motor vehicle had more depreciation factored into its running costs and insurance was also something of a killer. Tyres aren’t particularly affordable to replace, either.

As for discounts, the biggest benefit is in NSW, where the Long Range gets about $2900 in stamp duty savings.

That helps make the Model 3 Long Range more affordable to own than the luxury version of the Camry Hybrid. It also packs in better driving manners, more tech and a heap more performance.

The Model 3 Long Range also comfortably beats the rival BMW and Mercedes-Benz models.

9. Mazda MX-30 Electric

Daily running costs: $30.28 (NSW), $32.34 (Victoria), $31.75 (Queensland)

The Mazda MX-30 is the brand’s first EV and is a mid-pack contender on EV running costs. Priced almost perfectly to take advantage of the NSW government incentives – the savings can be $5475 – it gets out of the blocks strongly.

The MX-30 also has impressively affordable servicing and respectable insurance estimates.

But the small battery with associated short EV range appears to be one factor that has Redbook forecasting relatively high depreciation, something that adds plenty to the MX-30’s running costs and means it costs around half as much again to own as some of the cheapest EVs to run.

10. Kia Niro Electric

Daily running costs: $31.02 (NSW), $32.97 (Victoria), $33.22 (Queensland)

Kia’s first EV, the Niro Electric, is nothing special on first blush, but it makes up for it with a long EV range (it shares its battery and electric motor with the Hyundai Kona Electric).

But for running costs the Niro is hit hard by high forecast depreciation and servicing that costs double what it does on its EV cousin.

Each easily offsets relatively affordable tyre costs.

11. Volvo XC40 Pure Electric

Daily running costs: $32.28 (NSW), $34.69 (Victoria), $32.25 (Queensland)

Volvo managed to sneak the price of the XC40 Electric under the $3000 rebate thresholds for NSW, something that helps its running costs cause against premium rivals – at least in NSW.

That Volvo doesn’t charge for metallic paint (as it does on other XC40s) and offers a cheaper dealer delivery fee than other XC40s certainly helps.

But the Volvo has quite aggressive (and grippy) tyres that are expensive to replace. It also uses more electricity than most EVs of its size.

Even with the first three years of servicing thrown in for free the other factors add up with the XC40’s overall running costs.

12. Mercedes-Benz EQA250

Daily running costs: $34.24 (NSW), $36.56 (Victoria), $35.60 (Queensland)

The Mercedes-Benz EQA250 is the most affordable of an expanding EV lineup from the German brand. The EQA250 can take advantage of the NSW stamp duty rebate – but only if you don’t tick any options boxes.

Otherwise it’s hurt by high-ish forecast depreciation, high (by EV standards) servicing and expensive insurance estimates.

Tyres and energy costs are reasonable.

13. Jaguar I-Pace

Daily running costs: $59.33 (NSW), $59.84 (Victoria), $58.17 (Queensland)

The Jaguar I-Pace emerges as the most affordable of the $100K-plus EVs for running costs.

As with anything priced above six figures, it’s depreciation that plays such a big role here.

Still, with big performance and loads of style one of the oldest luxury EVs on the market holds up well in a price comparison.

14/16. Audi e-Tron 50/55

Daily running costs: $60.50 (NSW), $60.87 (Victoria), $59.13 (Queensland) (e-Tron 50)

Daily running costs: $64.40 (NSW), $64.73 (Victoria), $62.99 (Queensland) (e-Tron 55)

Forecast depreciation of more than $70K over five years adds plenty to the daily running costs of an Audi e-Tron. And it’s the more expensive 55 (which gets a bigger battery) that hurts more than the e-Tron 50 that was also crunched the numbers on.

The e-Tron also isn’t particularly efficient compared with rivals, so electricity costs could be higher. That said, the e-Tron can be charged for free on the Chargefox network, potentially saving about $4500 over the 75,000km of ownership.

While insurance is high compared with more affordable EVs, the e-Tron’s cost of coverage wasn’t as high as rivals.

Free scheduled servicing for the first six years or 90,000km is a bonus, too.

15. Mercedes-Benz EQC400 Sport

Daily running costs: $61.86 (NSW), $62.22 (Victoria), $60.63 (Queensland)

We compiled our figures before the late 2021 arrival of the more affordable EQC. So it’s the newly-named Mercedes-Benz EQC400 Sport that we’ve done the numbers on here.

Like its luxury SUV rivals, depreciation is a big hit, accounting for an estimated $74K, or almost $41 per day.

The EQC Sport’s 21-inch tyres are also not cheap to replace.

A five-year Chargefox subscription can potentially reduce the $4013 estimated cost of electricity.

17. Porsche Taycan

Daily running costs: $84.66 (NSW), $85.06 (Victoria), $83.22 (Queensland)

It’s no surprise that the most expensive EV on the market is also the most expensive to own. There are four models in the lineup and it’s the most affordable we’ve chosen here. The Taycan 4S, Turbo and Turbo S deliver plenty more performance, but also cost more.

With prices from more than $170K drive-away for the model simply known as the Taycan there’s more money to lose in depreciation.

Servicing and insurance costs are also higher than all other EVs, which is commensurate with the premium positioning of the car.

But the Taycan also has some running cost wins, such as relatively affordable tyre costs (optioning bigger wheels will obviously impact that). Plus if you use the Chargefox subscription – which runs for three years – there’s the potential to save $4150 on electricity (the subsection lasts for three years).

Complete EV running costs in NSW, Victoria and Queensland

Below is the summary of the complete guide to electric car running costs. Cars highlighted in blue are EVs, while others are ICE alternatives included for comparative purposes. For the complete breakdown of how we calculated the figures below click here for NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

Full disclosure: How we determined daily EV ownership costs

Collating and crunching data was the biggest part of pulling together these numbers. We calculated daily ownership costs for Victoria, NSW and Queensland, the three most populous states in Australia. Between them they house 78 percent of the Australian population.

 While EVs performed well, they were by no means given an easier ride in our inaugural running costs collation.

For example, we assumed higher tyre usage for EVs over ICE alternatives, to account for the additional weight of battery packs and the near-instant torque delivery that makes for fun acceleration but can increase wear. So whereas for ICE cars we assumed two sets of replacement tyres over the 75,000km theoretical life of ownership, for EVs we assumed 2.4 sets of tyres (20 percent more tyre wear).

We also made EVs pay for every kilowatt-hour of electricity, even though we appreciate many people will use free charging alternatives (shopping centres or subscriptions) or top up using free home solar.

Here’s how we sourced the figures:

Assumptions: Our data assumed five years of ownership at an average of 15,000km per year, so 75,000km in total.

Pricing: Came from manufacturer websites and Redbook. We worked with both the manufacturer list price (which is before on-road costs) and the drive-away price. That way we could do a resale value calculation while splitting out things such as stamp duty and registration costs. Those stamp duty, dealer delivery and rego costs were factored into the overall running costs.

Discounts and incentives: NSW and Victoria both offer discounts and incentives for some EVs and these were taken into account for calculations. We also included the Victorian 2.5c/km charge, which added $1875 to the cost of each EV over our 75,000km of theoretical driving.

Resale figures: Depreciation is typically the single biggest cost of owning a car, so we turned to the bible regarding residual values, Redbook. Part of Carsales, Redbook uses real government-sourced data to monitor what’s happening in the used car sphere then uses its knowledge and data history to forecast what new cars will be worth in future. It’s not perfect, and plenty can change, but we think it’s the best way to estimate what a car might be worth in five years. The figures we used were for forecast residual values after five years and 80,000km.

Registrations costs: We used NSW, Queensland and Victoria for registration costs to come up with three different sets of figures. Victoria and Queensland are easier because they have a fixed figure (for the cars we’re looking at here) whereas NSW allows people to shop for their compulsory third party insurance. To compensate we adopted a fixed annual $1000 registration charge for NSW.

Servicing: Most brands these days have capped price or pre-paid servicing plans. We sourced these from each brand’s online portals and by making a phone call or two. We covered at least five years and 75,000km of servicing costs. The only challenge was Tesla, which doesn’t have any transparent servicing costs. We asked trusted mechanics, Tesla owners and looked at the price of parts/fluids replaced during a Tesla service (cabin filters and brake fluid, for example) to come up with an estimate of $1400 over the five-year, 75,000km costs period.

Fuel/electricity costs: Things get murky here, because as well as fuel price fluctuations, plenty of EVers won’t pay for a lot of their electricity, either by using free public charging stations or topping up using solar at home. It’s very different to fuel in terms of determining how much each driver will use. But for the purposes of the exercise we assumed an electricity rate of 25c/kWh, which will be more than many in NSW, Queensland and Victoria will be paying but possibly less than those in some other parts of Australia. We then assumed electricity usage equal to the WLTP standard. Think of it as a pessimistic average that also account for some more expensive DC fast charging on big trips and some cheaper home charging. As for fuel prices, we used $1.75 per litre for regular unleaded, $1.60 for diesel and $1.85 for premium unleaded (clearly those figures can fluctuate with fuel price changes).

Insurance: We sourced quotes from two big insurers – NRMA and Budget Direct – then averaged them out for an annual quote. Our fictional driver was a 40-year-old male living in Lane Cove North in Sydney who garaged his car each night. He had a rating 1, no crash history, used the car only for personal use, no finance on the car and limited the car to people 25 and older and 15,000km per year. The only car that caught us out was the Porsche Taycan, because Budget Direct wouldn’t provide an online quote (nor many other insurers) so we ran solely with the NRMA figure. While we appreciate insurance costs will change in other states, we were more interested in the variation between different models, which should be roughly consistent across Australia (insurance costs can vary much more due to factors such as driver age/experience and driving history).

Tyres: We sourced online non-discounted prices for four major brands – Bridgestone, Continental, Michelin and Pirelli – to come up with a ‘basket price’ for each car. Prices were sourced from TyreRight where possible and if they didn’t have a particular brand for that car we used Jax and/or Tyresales. We then assumed each ICE car would use two sets of tyres. However, following feedback from various sources, including leasing companies, we added 20 percent to the tyre usage of the EVs, to account for the additional weight and torque delivery that can take its toll on tyres.

Detailed EV running costs

Below is the detailed breakdown of EV running costs. It includes the prices for each individual cost mentioned above and is calculated for NSW, Victoria and Queensland. While many items are common across all three states – depreciation, tyre replacement and servicing, for example – others are not; registration costs differ from state to state, for example.

Detailed EV running costs for NSW

Detailed EV running costs for Victoria

Detailed EV running costs for Queensland