John Rose, University of Sydney and Andrea Pelligrini, University of Sydney
So you’re thinking of buying an electric car. Perhaps you want to save money on fuel, or reduce your greenhouse gas emissions, or both. After all, for Australia to reach net zero it needs to electrify vehicles (and expand public transport use).
But you’ve heard arguments against electric cars: they have limited range and many owners can’t easily charge at home. They cost too much, resale values are poor and insurance costs are higher than for other cars. They’re also heavier and cause more damage to our roads.
Alarmingly, the mining of some minerals used to make them involves modern-day slavery.
Are these concerns warranted? Let’s walk through them.
Driving range
In 2014, an electric vehicle’s top driving range was between 160 and 210 kilometres. Today, most new models can travel 300–600km under real-world conditions.
In Australia, the average privately owned car travels 12,100km a year. That’s about 33.2km a day. Current models have more than enough battery capacity to cover most trips.
Access to chargers
What about longer trips? Many drivers still worry about finding a public charger. It’s common to see long queues at public charging stations (when they are working) or owners searching for a charger.
Public charging infrastructure is struggling to keep up with rising demand. While not an issue for short trips (90 per cent of owners charge at home or work), it’s a challenge for longer travel.
Private home chargers are getting cheaper but not everyone has off-street parking. Some resort to the legally questionable strategy of running power cables over sidewalks or through trees.
Apartment block residents typically have requests to install private chargers rejected for safety reasons (mainly fire risks). Many also can’t install solar panels, which would greatly reduce charging costs.
Purchase costs
While electric vehicles cost more than petrol or diesel vehicles today, this won’t be true in future. In 2023, the average price of a new petrol car in Australia was $40,916, compared to $117,785 for battery electric vehicles.
But the problem with averages is they’re skewed by outliers. And there are lots of very expensive outliers on the electric vehicle market. You can own a Porsche Taycon Turbo S for $374,000, or a Mercedes-AMG EQS 53 for $327,000.
Three models account for about 70 per cent of electric vehicle sales in Australia: the Telsa Model Y (from $60,900), Tesla Model 3 (from $58,900) and the BYD Atto 3 (from $48,011). The Model 3 entered our market in 2019 at $66,000, so it’s clear prices are dropping, and dropping fast. You can buy the GWM ORA or MG4 Excite MY23 for $39,990.
Prices becoming cheaper is common for most new technology. It’s just we notice it more with electric vehicles because they cost more than most technology we buy, including phones and TVs.
Secondhand value
Concerns about resale value may be justified. In the year to January 2024, the value of used electric vehicles fell 21 per cent, which was more than for fossil fuel vehicles.
A higher initial price does not necessarily carry over to the second-hand market. Early adopters valued EV technology, but most buyers have different priorities.
As the technology improves and misconceptions fade, resale values could rebound.
Insurance costs
Insurance costs are also higher than for other vehicles – typically around 20 per cent more.
The vehicles generally cost more to buy in the first place and newer technology is more costly to produce and replace. The supply chain for parts is still developing, with fewer trained technicians and service centres to maintain these vehicles.
As the market grows and service infrastructure improves, insurance costs should fall.
Environmental damage?
One recent study suggests electric vehicles are actually more environmentally damaging than petrol and diesel vehicles. They are typically heavier, resulting in more tyre wear and heavier braking. As this produces small particulate matter with a diameter of 10 microns (PM10) or less (a typical human hair is 50–70 microns wide), the suggestion is electric vehicles will produce more of it.
But such studies often compare particulate emissions from EVs to tailpipe emissions from their fossil fuel counterparts. They ignore the latter’s tyre and braking concerns, which means comparing apples to oranges. More scientific studies suggest electric vehicles, particularly smaller ones, produce less PM10 from non-exhaust sources than their non-electric equivalents.
Slavery in the supply chain
Unfortunately, the modern-day slavery concern is very real.
Electric vehicle batteries require cobalt. About 70 per cent of the world’s supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. About 20 per cent of this mining activity involves small, informal, subsistence mines with little or no mechanisation and often using child labour.
The minerals from such mines are scattered throughout the world’s supply chains. Those who raise slavery concerns against electric vehicles are usually silent on other affected products such as phones and laptops. Much more must be done to reduce these concerns about battery supply chains.
The good outweighs the bad
On balance, you’re justified in buying an electric vehicle, assuming you want one. Overall operating costs are far lower than for other vehicles. Public charger issues affect a small percentage of trips.
While prices are dropping quickly, this doesn’t mean the bottom is falling out of the market. Price reductions simply represent greater supply of cheaper electric vehicles. Previous market-leading manufacturers can no longer charge hefty premiums for their products.
And demand isn’t decreasing. The share of electric vehicles on the road continues to increase.
Further, the technology is evolving. Trials of vehicle-to-grid charging, where vehicles return power to the grid or directly to a person’s house, have been taking place across Australia. This ability to power your house will help reduce energy bills, saving owners even more money.
Aside from justifiable concerns about human rights abuses, most of the perceived barriers to EV uptake aren’t really barriers at all, or soon won’t be.
John Rose, Professor of Sustainable Future Transport, University of Sydney and Andrea Pelligrini, Lecturer, Sustainable Mobility, University of Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Have you considered buying an EV? Would these arguments change your mind? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
Also read: Is premium fuel worth it?
another load of crap from the Consersationists.
Yes I have considered it. But my current diesel car still has a lot of life left in it.
If I was in the market for a new car it would certainly be electric as they are very cheap to run and I have driven one which was beautiful to drive.
No way I would ever buy this rubbish..as soon as the climate scam is realised these monstrosities will be finished tomorrow..
Absolutely Tood. I note there is a lot of “could” in this article. The truth is they won’t.
Battery replacement is hellishly expensive and the intial warranties only span around 8 years. Car yards are full of unsold electric cars and by the way what happens to the climate if we reach net zero. I know the answer. Absolutely nothing but if we continue to buy electric cars the only result will be an increase in the Chinese economy !
Totally agree Peter,
I have also considered buying an electric vehicle, but as energy prices are increasing all the time they are not much cheaper than the more economic petrol versions. Also the ridiculous cost when you will have to replace the batteries. With our climate and the volatility of lithium batteries will our insurance prices sky rocket. NO they are definitely not worth it considering the problems that will arise.
I saw a bumper sticker on a Tesla the other day that raised a smile.
It said “I BOUGHT THIS CAR BEFORE I REALISED THAT ELON WAS CRAZY”
When the authors of this article are a Professor of Sustainable Future Transport and a Lecturer, Sustainable Mobility, of course it will come out in favour of you buying an expensive new car that meets their objective. (Of course when we reach “Net Zero”, both their jobs will be redundant and they can find a job outside the University industry.)
Buying an EV car will make absolutely no difference to the “Climate Emergency”/”Climate Crises” that they tell us is happening around the world right now. No difference at all. In fact even if all transport, both personal and freight, including road, rail and air went to zero emissions tomorrow, it would make no difference to air quality across most of Australia (or the Southern Hemisphere).
If you are thinking of buying an EV to save money, think again. Look at your budget and look at all four options. Pure EV, hybrid petrol or diesel, legacy full petrol, or legacy pure diesel. If your budget is under $35K, you can rule out all EVs and most hybrids.
Go to $50K and there’s a reasonable choice. (Of course brand loyalty will play a big part in your selections as there is always the “always bought brand A, so prefer to stay with what brand A is offering. This will rule out a whole swathe of new brands from China.)
How much a year do you on average spend on fuel? No EV costs nothing to run (if you are arguing that your electricity is free thanks to your solar panels, this is only a valid argument if your car is always at home during the day, and what was the cost of the solar system and if you intend charging from it, will you have to upgrade with extra or new panels, or a new inverter? Or even a new high capacity home charger will cost the equivalent of quite a few tanks full of premium.)
Oh, and the costs of electricity are not trending down in spite of the promises of certain politicians.
When the prices of the new ranges of EVs are considered and the quality of comparative vehicles is looked at closely, will you be getting the quality product that you’d expect in that price category?
Consider the driving experience, is “the feeling” one that you’d be comfortable with for the next ten years? (Yes, as they depreciate very, very rapidly, it may be best to wait until they have bottomed out. There is an indication that many people will jump just before the Warranty period expires so that the next owner gets the experience of a possible battery failure (guesstimates only on what the prices of the replacement batteries will be as the battery industry is volatile with both technologies, raw material prices and actual failure rates).)
The future values of all ICE vehicles can be expected to hold well too as when such jurisdictions as the ACT ban the sale of new pure ICE (but not hybrids), the demand for good second hand ICEs will quite probably go up (no, there will not be a cessation of the sale of petrol and diesel as the crude will still be sucked up and refined and there will be a need for these liquid fuels for well beyond our life expectancies).
Buy to suit your budget but don’t expect miracles from the EV “revolution.