[whynot]

Just some back of the envelope calculations about the running costs of EV verses petrol.

Assuming the EV uses energy at the rate of 0.25kW/km and a petrol uses 10l/100km. (Yes, we can argue ad infinitum about how much fuel each of us uses. This is what I typically use with my lead foot.)

Assuming $0.20/kWh for electricity and $2.00l for petrol.

Then, to travel 100km, the EV has cost $5 in fuel and the petrol as cost $20 in fuel.

Assuming the typical motorist travels 16,000km in a year, their fuel cost is $800p.a. for the EV and $3200 for the petrol.

Over the five year life of a typical lease vehicle, the EV is $12,000 cheaper to run (given all of the assumptions above).

From a Total Cost of Ownership perspective, this is starting to get EV near the price of their petrol equivalent. Certainly, the price gap is cheap money to show (or at the very least pretend) that one cares for the planet. With a solid solar PV system on the roof (at least 10kW with export capped at 5kW), the figures look very interesting. (Assuming one has that type of cash lying around.)

Which gets me to the bottom line ... I do wonder what game the oil producers are playing at. Surely, they can see their high prices are pushing people across to alternate fuels. Or maybe they figure they only have a few more years to make cash, so lets screw everyone while we can.