How far on a dollar?

 How far can you go on one dollar in Australia in a petrol car or an EV?  From Elitre.com.au.

How it works

The average petrol/diesel car (sales-weighted) uses 7.3 L/100km. Fuel currently costs 273.5¢/L, so $1 buys 0.37 L — enough to drive 5.0 km.

The average EV (sales-weighted) uses 15.6 kWh/100km. Smart charging with Amber Electric currently costs 15.5¢/kWh, so $1 buys 6.45 kWh — enough to drive 41.2 km.

This means that an EV could travel 8.3× further on just $1 of energy.

Have we underestimated the EV distance?

Amber has contacted the author to report that their SmartShift customers with battery and solar averaged 4.0¢/kWh during the six months to the end of March 2026. At that rate, $1 of electricity would take the average EV 159.8 km — 3.9× further than our estimate, or 32.0× as far as the average conventional vehicle.

I mostly drive around the regional city I live in.  Every once in a while, I drive into the big smoke, which is a 350 km round trip, which would be about the range of the BYD ATTO 1 which I would buy if I had the money.  For 95% of the time, I drive less than 10 k's a day, except occasionally.  My rooftop panels would be enough to charge my ATTO 1 (if I had one)  for all usage except the occasional return trip to the city.  The fast charger in the city I would use would cost 60 cents/kWh.  Assume I charge to 50% (15 kWh).  That would cost me $9.  This would be the total quarterly cost of "filling my car".   In addition, I pay $800 a year for servicing my Suzuki Swift.  EVs hardly need servicing--no radiator, no fan-belt, no oil pump, no distributor, no air filter .....  So I would expect servicing costs to be negligible--rotate the tyres, and refill the windscreen washer. 

Reminder:  in Australia, the BYD ATTO 1 costs the same (sticker price) as a petrol Suzuki Swift, and is the same-sized car with comparable performance.  My "fuel" costs would be $9.  My current costs are $120 per quarter.  My maintenance costs would be tiny, compared with $200/quarter.  

This is the tipping point.  Yes, there still aren't enough fast chargers, but if you want to see how many there now are, look on Plugshare.