EV general discussion

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 10th January 2026, 06:33 PM

I took my son gliding today. That's something I used to do a lot of. It's about 200k return. I remember back in the days, the cars I had used to average about 10l/100. They would probably have done better with todays me driving.

. Anyway probably one of the reasons I drifted away was it was expensive to go out there.

If I did that trip in the defender today it would cost about $43 dollars. In the EV the cost for the trip was $2.4. Aerotows are more expensive now but it all helps. I don't even want to try and factor in a maintenance cost for the defender per km.

If the Tesla ever actually costs me anythingto maintain it I'll post in here.

IMHO people are conditioned to the costs of driving. It's a lot. It's to some extent optional though now.

EDIT: At the rate of expenditure on maintenance in the last couple of years for the defender I'd say I'm running north of $2 per km in maintenance/upgrades. There have been some big expenses in there that are once off upgrades, but also lots of regular maintenance, and 20 year old car things.

I mean it's not a linear relationship and you wouldn't worry about it for occasional trips. But I do think if I was just driving it around town where I didn't need the capability I'd consider it a factor when you can drive an EV which has no mainetenance really other than tyres. I'm quite confident that if I did 100k in an EV, and then compared that to the defender I could easily buy two replacement batteries per 100k in saved fuel and maintenance costs. Of course - all the evidence at this point suggests that an LFP battery will last the life of the car despite what people on here might think.

EDIT2: As opined in here - people buy cars because of the image it they think it portrays about them. Because I rarely drive it - when I drive the defender it's fun. People look at you at lights, defender waves, getting accosted in car parks ETC. I get it. But - that's not important enough of consideration to me that I'd happily drive around the city in a car that's frankly completely inappropriate for city use AND costs a motza. There are a number of defenders that I see around here that are purely city cars. IMHO that's cray cray but there you go. (before you get into me I've talked to the owners.. "I'd like to go off road one day" is their reason for buying a defender).

EDIT3: (I really need to stop this and go pull the engine out of the Lotus).. And for the vast majority of our driving an EV is a far far better device than the defender. For the trip to gliding. It's fast, quiet, comfortable, the AC works. Plugged in before bed the night before, jump in and drive in the morning. Get home without even considering range (50% when I got home after 200k in 35 degrees). Charge and repeat if required.

**gromit** · 11th January 2026, 03:17 PM

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Same for the discoveries!

So your original post makes no sense !

Colin

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 11th January 2026, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by gromit

So your original post makes no sense !

Colin

Ok let's do this carefully.

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

So just for fun. A 2015 tesla Model S (only the second year sold here) and a Disco 3 HSE sold for roughly the same price new.

The D3's value is $12,000 - $14,400 and the Tesla is $27,800 - $31,400. Personally I'd take the Tesla over the D3 every day unless the D3 came with an unlimited free motor deal. Even then if I was driving around town I'd take the Tesla. I think the Teslas of that era had unlimited free supercharging. The market has a funny way of working things out.

Those values are from the Redbook valuation data which carsales provides for free to help people value their car for sale.

You are right potentially the Tesla owners might not get those values, but you could say the same about the D3 owners too. So I'm not sure what your argument is.

Two cars with roughly the same value in 2015. Now the EV is worth more than the ICE car.

**DoubleChevron** · 12th January 2026, 08:22 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Ok let's do this carefully.

Those values are from the Redbook valuation data which carsales provides for free to help people value their car for sale.

You are right potentially the Tesla owners might not get those values, but you could say the same about the D3 owners too. So I'm not sure what your argument is.

Two cars with roughly the same value in 2015. Now the EV is worth more than the ICE car.

Let us know how your figures are going with the electric throw-aways when they are 20years old. You running costs for something like a defender are nonsense. You would be stunned if I worked out how little the ****box range rover has cost to run over the last decade. To actually feed it, is quite expensive. It certainly hasn't been an expensive vehicle to buy, maintain or (if I ever decide to) sell. Its probably appreciated about 500% on its purchase value. Its extraudenarily reliable (given everyone thinks they aren't). You just change the oil .... add a bit every few thousand kms (as it uses a bit), add a bit of coolant every few months (as it dissapears a bit ... I've never found from where ... but its been doing it for 10years. I think the radiator may weep somewhere in its core) ... Um, tires are expensive, but I've generally put unworn cheap tires from marketplace on it.

Your electric throw-away will have lost more in its first 12months of ownership than this daily driver has cost me all up in 10 years regardless of its absolutely horrendous thirst. The main disclaimer here is its not doing huge milage. If I was using it for commuting or lots of milage, you would be going bankrupt with the running costs and endless upkeep.

**Tins** · 12th January 2026, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Same for the discoveries!

Same for everything.Things are only worth what people will pay for them. Are people paying for them?? No.

**Tins** · 12th January 2026, 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by gromit

So your original post makes no sense !

Colin

What's new?

**Tins** · 12th January 2026, 11:38 AM

Starting (?) to believe this thread should be filed under "Religion".

**Captain_Rightfoot** · 12th January 2026, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Tins

Same for everything.Things are only worth what people will pay for them. Are people paying for them?? No.

Like really.. what to you mean? People are buying them. Supply and demand. Both the tesla and Discovery prices I supplied are redbook prices. They work out the prices based on all sorts of stuff including auction sales. If there are no buyers at auction they whole market sorts to a lower price.

This thread is quite special. Someone can offer prices from redbook and people just say (If I've understood your assertion) that the prices for the EV are wrong, and no one is buying them. Yet the prices are derived from vehicles which are sold.

I just can't help...

RedBook's price guides are determined based on extensive research. This often involves sourcing sales data through auction houses, motor dealers, manufacturers, field research and major automotive classified websites in Australia. This vast volume of data is then reviewed by RedBook's expert pricing panel each month and pricing in our database is updated to reflect any adjustments.

**Tins** · 12th January 2026, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Like really.. what to you mean? People are buying them. Supply and demand. Both the tesla and Discovery prices I supplied are redbook prices. They work out the prices based on all sorts of stuff including auction sales. If there are no buyers at auction they whole market sorts to a lower price.

This thread is quite special. Someone can offer prices from redbook and people just say (If I've understood your assertion) that the prices for the EV are wrong, and no one is buying them. Yet the prices are derived from vehicles which are sold.

I just can't help...

Have a look at carsales look at when the ad was listed.

Red book is intended as a guide for traders. Does it take into account the sales of cars that are to be dismantled?
The EV market in Australia does not reflect on the EV market in ROW, Other markets still have their own auto industries. Australia does not. Policies have propped up EV sales here. They have done so elsewhere too, but the manufacturers have cried foul, and they are now going back to ICE manufacturing. Even the EU, one of the most blind bureaucracies in history, has wound back their idiotic policies. The US has completely removed them, well nearly.
My argument has never been against EVe overall, it has always been against dumb policies that try to manipulate the people. Take away the subsidies, all of them, and let the market decide. Otherwise the electorate will. It’s happening everywhere. We can already see how the markets are responding overseas.

**DoubleChevron** · 12th January 2026, 12:35 PM

Originally Posted by Captain_Rightfoot

Like really.. what to you mean? People are buying them. Supply and demand. Both the tesla and Discovery prices I supplied are redbook prices. They work out the prices based on all sorts of stuff including auction sales. If there are no buyers at auction they whole market sorts to a lower price.

This thread is quite special. Someone can offer prices from redbook and people just say (If I've understood your assertion) that the prices for the EV are wrong, and no one is buying them. Yet the prices are derived from vehicles which are sold.

I just can't help...

The poor aren't subsiding these cars with there tax dollars though

Electric vehicle FBT: Cost of Labor'''s EV policy blows out, benefits wealthy

I'd always assumed this was the case, mostly the wealthy are taking advantage of this stuff. The wealthy that will no doubt have several other proper cars as well. Sowe are effectively sponsoring them having a "toy electric throw-away".

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