Electric vehicles (EV) are currently saving motorists $100 compared to buying a regular vehicle, according to a consumer body. Brian Spak, director at Energy Consumers Australia, stated that EVs present the “single greatest opportunity” for households and small businesses to participate in and benefit from the renewable energy transition. However, he acknowledged that the current savings were relatively modest. A report by Spak’s organization revealed that EV owners only saved around $100 per year compared to conventional vehicles when factoring in purchase price.
Spak emphasized that as EV prices decrease, the cost-saving benefits will increase. He cited research by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), which projected savings of over $1,400 per year for every driver by 2030 as electric vehicle prices decline.
Additionally, CSIRO’s analysis indicated that other consumers would also benefit from increased adoption of EVs. They estimated annual savings of about $180 per year currently and up to $300 per year in the future for non-car-owning households due to increased utilization of the electricity network putting downward pressure on network prices.
However, Spak highlighted that accessible and reliable EV charging infrastructure is crucial for these benefits to be realized. He pointed out maintenance issues with public EV chargers as a persistent problem in the United States.
To address this issue, Spak suggested establishing robust reliability standards for charging infrastructure. Meanwhile, Timothy Jarratt from Ausgrid noted limited access to charging infrastructure as a major barrier to EV uptake in Australia. In New South Wales (NSW), 30% of people struggle with accessing home charging due to renting or living without a driveway.
Colin Crisafulli from Endeavour Energy echoed this sentiment and highlighted the shortage of available charging stations compared to other countries like the UK. To alleviate this shortage in NSW, Crisafulli mentioned his company’s collaboration with the state government in deploying 22,500 charges on existing poles and electricity infrastructure.
while current savings may be modest for individual owners at present, increasing affordability combined with improved accessibility and reliability of charging infrastructure could significantly enhance cost-saving benefits associated with electric vehicles.
