EV vs Petrol vs Diesel fuel costs
With the current massive increase of fuel costs there’s been a lot of new interest in electric cars. This quick comparison shows the cost of a trip from Stanthorpe to Toowoomba and return, a 284km round trip.
Diesel: $66.49
Petrol: $47.98
EV public charger: $26.40
EV home charging: $14.40
EV solar charging: $4.15 (foregone solar income)
The cost of fuel for various diesel/petrol/ev cars for a trip from Stanthorpe to Toowoomba & return (284km).
Details
Fuel consumption rate for the Toyota Hilux $66.49
based on the 2026 Single Cab 2.8L Diesel engine, rated at 7.4L/100km;
20.72L diesel used for the trip.
Diesel price 320.9c/L. Cost based on the lowest price diesel fuel in Stanthorpe on the petrolspy.com.au website on 30 March 2026
Total $66.49 for diesel from Stanthorpe to Toowoomba and back.
Fuel consumption rate for the Honda Jazz $47.98
based on the 2011 Honda Jazz GLi Auto 1.3L petrol engine, rated at 6.6L/100km;
18.744L petrol used for the trip.
Petrol price unleaded 91 $2.56. Cost based on the lowest price petrol fuel in Stanthorpe on the petrolspy.com.au website on 30 March 2026
Total $47.98 for petrol from Stanthorpe to Toowoomba and back.
Cost for public EV charging - $26.40 - based on the Chargefox rate (55c per kWh) on 30 March 2026 for the Stanthorpe charger
Cost for electricity home charges - $14.40
based on the authors last monthly electricity bill regular (Tariff 11) tariff at 30cper kWh
assuming the EV was charging overnight at the regular tariff with no solar inputs
Cost for the home charging solar only - $4.15 in foregone solar income
Cost of charging using own generated solar electricityis free, but the $4.15 listed here is based on the amount of feed in tariff (8.66c per kWh) that would otherwise have been received from home solar generation if the EV was not using that power generated.
Many EV owners have chargers on timers or smart chargers that only send power to charge the car during solar generating hours. Some owners manually plug in cars to only charge during sunlight hours.
Households may have different time of use tariffs. The cheapest Ergon tariff at time of writing is the 12E Solar Soaker which offers 7.724c per kWh between the hours of 11am and 4pm. In the example of use above, this would equate to a charge of $3.71 for the same Stanthorpe - Toowoomba - Stanthorpe trip (you would additionally have the foregone $4.15 solar feed in rate for not sending this electricity to the grid)