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How much can you save by switching to an electric car?

If you drive a petrol or diesel car then now is the time to find out how much you can save by switching to an electric vehicle.

Why electric?

Petrol engines may sound grunty or smell like workhorses — fact is, they are highly inefficient. After a century of development, the combustion engine only turns around 25% of its fuel into forward motion. All the other energy is turned into heat. Meanwhile, an electric engine easily turns 80% of its energy into forward motion.

What is more, New Zealand generates most of our electricity using hydro schemes — i.e. falling water. In short, switching to an electric vehicle is one of the best things you can do to slow down climate change.

While going electric will slash your impact on greenhouse gases by around 80%, going electric may also save you money (the more you drive, the more you save). And, did you know, electric vehicles offer a much better driving experience.

So what is not to like? Electric Vehicles take longer to refuel and you need to refuel more often. That is an issue when you are driving from Wellington to Auckland, but most EV owners recharge their cars overnight, at home - at very low cost. Just like their mobile phones. Imagine you had to recharge your mobile phone at a petrol station!

Do you know how much you could save by trading-in your run-around car car, like a Honda Civic or Toyota Yaris, for an Electric Vehicle equivalent like a Nissan Leaf; without paying anything upfront? You may be surprised, it will not cost the earth. Answer two questions and we will show you all the details.

Got questions? Feel free to contact me, Nicolaas, I welcome your feedback. Thank you for using this site.

Credits: night image - Chris Gin; day image - Anup Shah.

Switch to an EV: save money and halt climate change

The calculator is based on the scenario is that you sell your current car and purchase a similar electric vehicle (with at least the same level of comfort and quality), without any upfront payments.  

The calculator is primarily meant as a comparison between a compact car (e.g. Ford Focus, Toyota Yaris, Honda Civic, etc... etc...) and a Nissan Leaf. You can change any of the assumptions to match your specific situation (e.g. if you are driving a petrol guzzler than you can change the fuel consumption). 

You can save and share your results at any time. 

Keen but can't be bothered?

We can provide you with a complete purchasing service that takes care of the whole EV-switch process.

Do it yourself 

If you are keen to make the switch and you would like to do it yourself then the leading the charge website is a good starting point.

Who paid for this website?

This website has been developed by Sunny Side Up. We developed this website out of pure enthusiasm for the EV movement and its promise as a green technology. 

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We estimate that if you switch (trade-in without any upfront cost) to an electric car this month then, in five years, you save calculating ...

total cost comparison

  Current Car Electric Car
TOTAL COST
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5

detailed results per year:

Total savings for one year :

  Current Car Electric Car
TOTAL COST
setup
set up of infrastructure
sale price
purchase price
cost of sale and purchase
finance
interest
loan repayments
saving for eventual replacement
value at the start of the year
value at the end of the year
original amount of loan
loan at start of the year
loan at the end of the year
cash left after hypothetical end-of-year car sale
fixed
insurance
licensing and WOF
operating
fuel
maintenance and service
tyres
unscheduled repairs
total cost per KM
actual KMs driven per year
actual KMs driven per day
fuel per week
other
car rental
car rental fuel
subsidies
personal contribution
car rental KMs driven

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Please send us an e-mail: evs@sunnysideup.co.nz if you have any comments. Thank you.

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disclaimer

Please use completely at your own risk. This tool is meant to be used as an indicative guide only. Please seek professional advice for any decisions you may make and do not make any decisions based on what is presented to you in this tool.