I expect there will now be extra delivery charges...  

$3+/litre... that woks out to $13 - $14 /gallon in the old metric.
Time to convert Aus cars to natural gas I think !!!!

It wasn't that long ago that we were converting cars to run on LPG. Then the price of LPG went up so much that everyone stopped buying it and the service stations stopped selling it.
In the USA they are complaining that petrol is $4 a gallon. I know that their gallons are smaller than ours were but still it seems they are getting off very lightly.
Pete

Yes wishing I had a EV right now.

Diesel is now $3.15 a litre, a few weeks ago it was $1.70.

I have a diesel "ute", 2021 Mazda BT-50 with the 3 litre diesel. Normally I get 9L/100km ( 26mpg ) with a mix of highway and city driving. I pumped up the tyres to 42psi, removed the tray hoop bar that goes over the cap ( out in the air stream ) and drive like there's a glass of water on the dash. Took it for a trip, 450km, mix of highway and big city driving, and got 7.5L/100km ( 31mpg ), not bad for a larger vehicle.

Traded my MG ZS EV in a couple of weeks ago.
It didn't stay in the dealer's yard for very long.

Happy with my new KIA EV5 with the 555kM wltp range = real life ~450kM
Just like the ICE vehicles, it depends on how you drive.

Jim

BMW 3-litre diesel 355bhp 730nM, 6.2L/100km @ 130KpH, 900Km range

Alfa Romeo Guilia 2.0ltr petrol, 280bhp, 400nM, 1545kgs curb weight, Drag Coef 0.28

Around town 28mpg. On a long run, 250 miles (to N.Wales), all motorway, active cruise set to 70mph, averaged 50mph and just touched 50mpg on arrival. Just over a third of a tank.

Of course that's in "Eco-mode", not "Dynamic" (so not quite as much fun!)  :-)

IanT

If you have an EV in Western Australia you can get an electricity tariff of just 8.4 cents/kW from 9AM to 3PM.  At today's petrol prices it would have cost $150 to fill up my recently retired ICE car, now my new EV costs just $7.70 to charge for the same range.

It is interesting to not have to worry about petrol prices or scarcity while all about you are panicking.

Geoff

My Mercedes-Benz A 250 e (plug-in hybrid) delivers a
system output of 160 kW (218 hp) and a maximum torque of 450 Nm, combining a 1.33-litre petrol engine (120 kW/163 hp) with an electric motor (75–80 kW). According to the WLTP, the electric range is approx. 70–85 km, with a top speed of 225–240 km/h. The battery (approx. 15.6 kWh) charges at DC fast chargers in approx. 50–60 minutes (10–80% @11KW).
On long journeys, it uses around 4.5 litres per 100 km when I’m driving; for short journeys, I drive purely on electric power. I haven't had to fill up petrol yet this year – the only thing missing is a own solar panel system.
Edited 2026-04-02 20:05 by Martin H.

I drive an Ebike and sold my van . Ok Germany isnt big as Australia or US🥳

  Martin H. said  

My Mercedes-Benz A 250 e (plug-in hybrid) delivers a
system output of 160 kW (218 hp) and a maximum torque of 450 Nm, combining a 1.33-litre petrol engine (120 kW/163 hp) with an electric motor (75–80 kW). According to the WLTP, the electric range is approx. 70–85 km, with a top speed of 225–240 km/h. The battery (approx. 15.6 kWh) charges at AC chargers in approx. 50–60 minutes (10–80% @11KW).
On long journeys, it uses around 4.5 litres per 100 km when I’m driving; for short journeys, I drive purely on electric power. I haven't had to fill up petrol yet this year – the only thing missing is a own solar panel system.

I mixed ACDC  
Edited 2026-04-02 20:37 by Martin H.

  Gizmo said  

Diesel is now $3.15 a litre, a few weeks ago it was $1.70.

I have a diesel "ute" [...] Normally I get 9L/100km ( 26mpg ) with a mix of highway and city driving. I pumped up the tyres to 42psi, removed the tray hoop bar that goes over the cap ( out in the air stream ) and drive like there's a glass of water on the dash. Took it for a trip, 450km, mix of highway and big city driving, and got 7.5L/100km ( 31mpg ), not bad for a larger vehicle.

prices are similar here in new zealand.

what troubles me is that folks seem to forget that while 20% of the world's supply of crude oil has been disrupted, 80% is still getting through. and given stocks held onshore as well as in transit, if we adapt to the current situation it is possible to survive for many months without running out.

the biggest saving you can make (without reducing the distances you travel) is, as Gizmo has demonstrated, to SLOW DOWN.



if we reduce our highway speeds to 80km/h then meaningful savings can be made (reductions below 80km/h are negligible). i just check on the NT top speed - 130km/h! slowing to 80km/h could cut fuel consumption by one third on the NT highways. here in new zealand out top speed is 100km/h on most open roads, with just a few at an insane 110km/h; setting a top open road speed limit of 80km/h could see us right for close to a year.


cheers,
rob   :-)

Diesel is currently about 3.45 AUD/litre (around £1.80) here in the UK. And climbing...

Heating oil has gone crazy.

Would it save (diesel/petrol) fuel here in the UK if we made 20mph limits 30mph?

(for elsewhere: we don't have other limits around those, next one is 40, so no 25 or 35 etc)

Just wondering :)

John

The debate about the costs of ICE vs EV usually revolves around running costs here in UK. However, those costs are heavily weighted by Government taxation.

We pay 52.95p/litre "Fuel Duty" for petrol, which is then further taxed by VAT (at 20%) - so effectively 63.54p/litre. VAT is then also charged on the rest. On March 2nd, I paid £1.309/litre but last week paid 1.499p/litre. Of that £1.499, only 67p is actual cost, the rest is taxation. EVs charged at home pay no VAT, although if using a Public charger VAT is charged at 20% and in some (fast charger) cases "fuel" costs can be comparable to petrol.

On top of this, we also pay VED (Vehicle Excise Duty) which for my car is currently £620pa but until recently was zero for an EV (although this is now changing).

However, when I purchased my Guilia four years ago, the price difference between the Alfa and a comparable EV was at least £10K. I calculated at the time that at 35mpg I could drive 70,000 miles "for free" with that £10K (for us about 14 years in theory).

So that's how it works here in UK (with much of the ICE vs EV cost differences being down to UK Government policy) although I'm sure things are different elsewhere.

Owners of EVs will probably be very happy (to be so) during this "crisis" but hopefully events will settle down, as then will prices. I am not anti-EV btw. I just really enjoy driving my current car. I'm also not certain that EV 'Tech' is fully developed as yet.

So, let's hope this mess get's sorted out real soon and we can all get back to worrying about how to keep up with Peter (& his little friend CLAUDE)

Regards,

IanT

Can you send me a few liters of diesel? 3.45 AUD is equivalent to 2.07€. The price of diesel today was €2.43 here in Germany - That amounts to 4.06 AUD...  

Frank

I have desperately wanted to buy an EV for about seven years now, but the last few times I've bought a car, the extra $20K for the electric version just isn't justifiable. My wife and I both work from home, so we barely drive our car as it is - let alone enough to offset the cost (via fuel savings). The engine was only on for 20 hours in total last month - almost all of that warming up or driving around town at 30km/h.

That being said, some of the new Chinese EV's look very cheap and exciting - especially the Lotus ones.

Currently driving a Genesis GV80 (which I love) - About 12 L/100km (20 MPG) but we only drive it around town, and on the odd occasion it's on the highway I do tend to open it up a bit (if you saw how straight and empty the highways are here - you'd understand).

But my wife and I have been discussing not getting another vehicle after this. When it hits 5 years old, the valet servicing stops (and I'm not going to drive the car to the dealership myself - heavens forbid!). So, maybe we just sell it and convert the garage into a workshop. Honestly, we could get by with Ubers and delivery services, and save a fortune on car payments, gas and insurance. If I do need to travel a significant distance, then I can just rent a car.