Electric cars vs petrol cars: The pros and cons of going electric

Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly common on Australian roads, but is it worth making the change?

Australia’s new car market is becoming more diverse, with an increased number of choices available to buyers seeking different powertrains.

No longer is it just a choice between diesel and petrol, though they are still the dominant fuel types in the market. Now buyers have options including hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV) and the fully-electric (EV) options popularised by brands such as Tesla.

New vehicle registrations for the first five months of 2025 show petrol remains the most popular fuel type across all vehicle types (41.2 per cent), followed by diesel (30.1 per cent), hybrid (16.1 per cent), electric (4.8 per cent) and then plug-in hybrid (4.0 per cent).

In trend terms, diesel is losing its relevance (sales down 6.6 per cent this year) and pure petrol models are down 9.8 per cent, whereas hybrid sales have jumped 18.3, and plug-in hybrids are up a staggering 208.1 per cent from a very low base, largely in part due to fringe benefits tax breaks which have now been axed.

Here we break down the pros and cons of each fuel type.

Many drivers are making the swap to hybrid vehicles. Picture: Newswire/ Gaye Gerard

Diesel

Pros: Readily available all over Australia, often cheaper to run than petrol

Cons: Nasty for the environment, and won’t suit all driving styles

Our market is dominated by diesel dual-cab utes and four-wheel drives. It is less likely to fluctuate in price as much as petrol, and is available in just about every single servo across the country.

In other parts of the world, this fuel has effectively been phased out in favour of electrification; research has found that diesel emissions can be harmful to the environment and humans – in fact, European environmental agencies have stated that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from diesel fumes has killed hundreds of thousands of people in Europe.

Modern diesel vehicles have particulate filters that require some high-speed driving regularly to activate the burn-off sequence. That mandatory technology is expensive to repair if you don’t drive to suit the requirements.

Disel is still popular and readily available all over Australia. Picture: Cameron Bates

Petrol

Pros: Not overly complicated, suits all driving styles

Cons: Fluctuating fuel prices make it hard to control running costs

There are different types of petrol. Cheaper choices are between the ‘regular’ 91 RON (research octane number) petrol, or E10, which includes a 10 per cent ethanol blend made from agricultural sources such as corn, wheat, or sorghum. It might be cheaper initially, but E10 fuel has been known to adversely impact some engines over time.

Then there are the higher-octane premium petrol choices – 95 RON or 98 RON – which are more expensive, but also more refined and better suited to hi-tech engines and turbocharged powertrains in particular. They can be more fuel efficient, too.

The biggest problem with petrol is choosing the right day and the correct location to refill, because pump prices can vary dramatically – up to $0.60c/litre in the space of a few kilometres or picking Wednesday or Thursday to fill up.

Hybrid (HEV)

Pros: Proven improvements to fuel use and tailpipe emissions

Cons: Additional complexity for maintenance, battery life

Most hybrids can run on electric power for short periods, doing their best work in stop-start driving where braking will feed energy back to the battery.

HEVs have a small battery and an electric motor that can do some of the work, some of the time – either in assisting the engine, or acting alone.

Nissan X-Trail e-power 2 critics. Photo: Iain Curry.

Hybrids were popularised by cars such as the Toyota Prius and Camry, and in recent years the Japanese maker has moved to make hybrids the go-to for passenger cars and SUVs. You can’t buy a petrol-only Yaris, Corolla, RAV4 or Kluger now.

But not all hybrids are the same. Suzuki markets the Swift as a hybrid, but it’s a very mild 12-volt system; and Mazda calls its mild-hybrid CX-60 (-70, -80, -90) model ranges “all hybrid”, when they’re actually only partly electrified by a 48V system.

Plug-in hybrid (PHEV)

Pros: Longer EV-only driving

Cons: Cost, having to plug in

There are two ways of looking at plug-in hybrids: the best of both worlds, or the worst.

PHEVs have a larger battery pack and more powerful electric motor pure EV driving for longer periods. A few years ago, 50km of EV range was great; today, some PHEVs in Australia claim 180km of EV range.

If you can drive to work and back each day and just use electric mode, that’s a win. But you’re constantly lugging around a petrol engine as well. Most PHEVs allow you to use the engine and battery together for fast acceleration if you need it.

Plug-In hybrid can offer great range. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)

PHEVs have gotten more affordable in recent years, but there are still high price premiums to have the tech compared to petrol models.

A subset of PHEVs is the range-extender EV (REEV) models which are entering the market, which use a petrol engine as a generator only.

Electric (EV)

Pros: Zippy response, better refinement, potentially zero emissions

Cons: Expensive, resale questionable, range and charging anxiety

Electric cars are exactly that. Cars that run on electricity.

They use bigger battery packs to offer long driving range, and while many of us would never actually drive from Sydney to Melbourne, there are no EVs on sale that could do it without recharging. Finding a charging station that isn’t occupied and is reliably working is another thing altogether – Australia is big, the distances are huge, and the infrastructure is lagging behind.



2024 Tesla Model 3 Performance. Picture: Thomas Wielecki

What EVs do better than other fuel types is urban driving; they’re zippy and responsive, and make sense as a second or third car for the family or errand-runner.

Originally published as Electric cars vs petrol cars: The pros and cons of going electric