How far can $1 of petrol take the average car,
compared with $1 of electricity in the average EV?
km per $1 of fuel
km per $1 of electricity
The average petrol/diesel car (sales-weighted) uses 7.3 L/100km. Fuel currently costs 211.6¢/L, so $1 buys 0.47 L — enough to drive 6.4 km.
The average EV (sales-weighted) uses 15.6 kWh/100km. Smart charging with Amber Electric currently costs 14.2¢/kWh, so $1 buys 7.04 kWh — enough to drive 45.0 km.
This means that an EV could travel 7.0× further on just $1 of energy.
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 — 3.5× further than our estimate, or 24.8× as far as the average conventional vehicle.
Fuel prices from 7-Eleven stations across Melbourne according to ProjectZeroThree. Electricity prices from Amber Electric, the 28-day average of each day's cheapest 18 hours. Vehicle fuel and electricity consumption data from official WLTP figures. Sales data from VFACTS 2025. Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max, Ford Everest and Toyota LC Prado are diesel; diesel pricing has been applied. Where a model range included HEV or PHEV variants, the ICE version was chosen. The fuel cost shown is a sales-weighted average across petrol and diesel vehicles.
Last updated 7:51am AEST 15 May 2026. Made by @simonahac, inspired by @aaronsmith.