There is no best answer to this question, but there is a right answer for you, and it turns almost entirely on facts about your life rather than facts about the cars. Work through these in order.
Start with where you park overnight
This is the single biggest determinant, and it is worth settling before you look at a single listing.
Around 80% of EV charging in Australia happens at home, and that is what the running-cost case rests on. The Electric Vehicle Council's figures: an average Australian drives about 12,000 km a year and spends around $2,500 on petrol, about 20c/km. The same distance in an EV costs around $500 to charge, about 4c/km, and as little as $200 with solar or an off-peak tariff.
Public DC fast charging is a different story. The NRMA has used location-based variable pricing since April 2025, so there is no single network rate — prices are set per site by local energy and servicing costs and shown in the My NRMA app. Remote sites are dearer: the NRMA’s own example, Erldunda Roadhouse in the NT, is 99c/kWh. Members save a flat 5c/kWh when starting a session in the app. Still cheaper than petrol, but it erases much of the advantage.
So: if you can plug in where you sleep, an EV is on the table. If you street-park, rent without off-street parking, or live in an apartment whose owners corporation has not approved charging, an EV is a much weaker proposition and a conventional hybrid is usually the better recommendation. That is covered in charging an electric car at home.
Then annual kilometres
The saving is per kilometre. The price premium is fixed. So the more you drive, the faster an EV pays for itself, and the less you drive, the longer a petrol car remains sensible.
The Australian average is about 33 to 38 km a day, which a standard power point covers in a few hours overnight. Well above that average strengthens the EV case considerably. Well below it weakens it — including on emissions, where the break-even is measured in kilometres rather than years.
Then long trips and where they go
Most EVs sold today do 300 to 500 km between charges, which covers ordinary life comfortably. The question is what your occasional big trip looks like.
On the major corridors — the east-coast capitals, the Queensland Electric Super Highway, the completed WA network — long-distance EV travel is genuinely practical now. There are real gaps, and they are specific: the Stuart Highway between Katherine and Tennant Creek, the Nullarbor's reliability problems, and remote touring routes like Cape York and the Gibb River Road. Public charging in Australia goes through this properly.
Then towing
If you tow heavy and often, this may decide it on its own.
Braked towing, a few reference points
- Ford Ranger diesel
- 3500 kg
- Kia EV9
- 2500 kg
- Tesla Model Y
- 1600 kg
- Toyota RAV4 Hybrid 2WD
- 800 kg
- LDV eT60 electric ute
- 1000 kg
Two things worth noticing there. No mainstream battery EV sold here matches a diesel ute's 3500 kg. But the base RAV4 Hybrid tows less than almost every EV on that list, so "get a hybrid if you tow" is wrong as a general rule — check the specific variant, not the drivetrain.
And expect a real range penalty when towing: roughly 40% to 55% with a caravan-sized load, better with something small and aerodynamic. Verify any towing figure against the model's own specification, because it varies enormously by variant.
Where each one lands
A battery EV suits you if you can charge at home, you drive average distances or more, your long trips are on well-served corridors, and you either do not tow or tow light. If you can access a novated lease, the FBT exemption is still available on battery electric cars and is substantial.
A conventional hybrid suits you if you cannot charge where you park, or you regularly drive long or remote routes. It needs no charging infrastructure at all — it recharges through regenerative braking and the engine. This is the honest recommendation for renters and apartment dwellers, and it is not a consolation prize.
A plug-in hybrid suits you if — and these have to be true together — you will plug it in most nights, your daily driving fits inside its electric range (about 50 km on most sold here, around 100 km on some), and you also do occasional trips where charging is thin. If you will not plug it in, it is the worst of the three: two powertrains' weight running on petrol. Should you buy a plug-in hybrid covers the evidence.
Plain petrol or diesel still suits you if you tow heavy regularly, you do genuinely remote touring, or you drive very little.
A note on used prices
Used EV values have fallen sharply. Analysis of RedBook data reported a 2022 Tesla Model Y RWD at around 48% below its new price, and a BYD Atto 3 down about 39%. That was painful for the first owner and it is the opportunity for the second — provided you check the battery, which is what buying a used electric car is for.
Two free tools before you decide
The Green Vehicle Guide has a home charging calculator, a fuel cost and CO2 calculator, and a search covering older vehicles — all free, all run by the Australian Government. Put your own numbers in rather than trusting a rule of thumb, including ours.