This deal just got even better with the car now starting from $35,990.
Discounts are available on the following trims:
Right so 12 years to break even when people don't keep their cars for so long
What you missed out are the inconveniences : if you don't live in a house, then best of luck with charging, even if you do and forget or go on long trips the anxiety and stress.
I mean I'm all for EVs as an alternate but if this is your first and only car then I'd say stick to hybrid at least before you go all in. Let the early adapter's take the risk.
| Right so 12 years to break even when people don't keep their cars for so long
You asked a question, I answered giving you cases when it does and doesn't make sense. On a cash basis, it won't work for everyone just at the moment, and I didn't claim it did. For those that it does, it's a crash hot bargain. But for those in that average group, especially if money is tight, then it's a bloody hard ask.
| What you missed out are the inconveniences : if you don't live in a house, then best of luck with charging, even if you do and forget or go on long trips the anxiety and stress.
I'm not sure why you are arguing with me, but responding to your points:
- Yeah - living in an apartment can make it more inconvenient to charge. But 70% of dwellings in Australia are separate houses, and 13% are townhouses. Only 16% of dwellings have this problem, and this will change with time and regulation. (Don't disagree that its a problem but only for an 1/8 of the dwellings, so not world ending for EVs).
- We've had an EV 4 years. For long trips, we plan ahead a little, and you know, an extension lead out of the windows works if you have to. We absolutely don't have a problem with forgetting - if the suns shining, we plug in, and we love the fact we haven't been near a servo forecourt in 4 years (that is definitely not nothing - no faffing mid week to get the best petrol price for the fill). We had far more stress with the reliability of our old ICE which had a coolant system prone to breaking, major parts failing at least once a year, and wildly variable fuel efficiency and a dodgy petrol gauge. Our inconvenience and stress now is nonexistent by comparison.
| Let the early adapter's take the risk.
Um. Early adoption was more than a decade ago when I had friends building their own EVs. It's pretty firmly mainstream now. We bought an EV as an only car 4 years ago and haven't missed a beat, and we were hardly early adopters. Hell, I'm old, and yet my parents generation is taking to EVs like ducks to water - know of multiple Attos, Leafs, Teslas, Volvos and Hyundais owned by people in their 70s and 80s - which admittedly also says something about the tax breaks of being old in Australia too. If the conservative old money sensitive codgers are leaping in with both feet, they probably know its something worth doing.
| if this is your first and only car then I'd say stick to hybrid at least before you go all in.
If you are not going EV, stick with a fuel efficient ICE. Hybrids are the worst of both worlds. Two complicated power systems (hybrid makes the EV complex), a not terribly good battery, and no better fuel efficiency than a good ICE. PHEV might make it a bit better if you are doing short supermarket runs only. But in that case, a hybrid is a very expensive shopping trolley (and so is an EV for that matter). Better yet, keep driving your current ICE until the value proposition flips and it makes sense to get the EV. We did exactly that, going from 3.8l V8 to an EV as soon as the price was right for us.
Again, if it works for you and you need a new car, get an EV. If it doesn't, make the most effective choice for you.
For some of us this is an stonking bargain - I've already shared it with someone outside ozb looking for an acceptably priced EV. This might be the one for them.
@EthicsGradient: Don't know where you got 12 years from - would be great if you could share your actual calculations!
By my reckoning based on EV owners reporting from 12kWh to 24kwh per 100km, so say 18kWh average. And grid electricity cost of $0.25 per kWh (which happens to be slightly higher than my single rate tariff).
Then annual cost (using your 13k km per year) would be 18 x 0.25 = $4.50 per 100km or $585 (4.5x130) per year for electricity 100% from the grid.
Petrol cost, based on $2.00 per liter (chosen rough average of $1.80-$2.30 for E10, 91, 95 or 98, depending where you live).
My car uses about 6.0l/100k highway to 8.0l/100k in town (fairly fuel efficient 2.0l turbo, with a fair bit of get up and go). So say an average of 7.0l/100k.
So petrol cost would be $14.00 per 100. And annual cost (for 13k km per year) would be $1,820 (14x130).
Using your nominated 12 years then petrol costs an extra $14,820 (1820-585 = 1235 annual difference, then times 12)
@MicMac: It appears to me then, buying an internal combustion engine (ICE) powered by petrol for about $35k or a fully electric vehicle (EV) for about $50k and fueling/powering them for 12 years is the same total cost in today's money.
Note: That is based on the broad assumptions outlined above, and not counting other variables such as power/fuel cost increases, differences in maintenance costs, depreciation and annual distances travelled
@MicMac: @micmac - I did correct myself to closer 15 years below, but I think you and I are on roughly the same space, with a bit different starting numbers. My numbers are below, and I also put your numbers in my calc and got the same results as you.
For the EV, I worked on 8km/kWh (what we get, an efficient EV), which translates to about 3.1c/km at 25c/kWh.
For the ICE, I assumed an efficient hatch - 4.2l/100km or ~23.8km/l, and $2/l, which got me to 8.4c/km.
Fuel difference ~5.3c/km, 13,000 per year = $685, 14 years gives approx $10k or the difference in cost between the 35k ora and a 25k ICE hatch.
It appears to me then, buying an internal combustion engine (ICE) powered by petrol for about $35k or a fully electric vehicle (EV) for about $50k and fueling/powering them for 12 years is the same total cost in today's money.
Yup - pretty well what I was saying, but this is unattractive if you factor in cost of money. It looks much better if you can reduce your electricity cost 80-100% with solar.
It kind of makes the point - the less fuel efficient your car, the more attractive any EV looks. (Ask me about our Holden which was doing around 17l/100km for city driving at end of life. Would. Not. Want. That. Just. Now!)
@EthicsGradient: Thanks for your reply EG. Interesting that your cost assumptions are much lower than mine.
Yes, totally agree that the more fuel efficient your vehicle the lower the cost of powering/fueling it. Which, btw, is the reason the Federal Govt has been flaffing about in introducing the New Vehicle Fuel Efficiency Standards.
I've had a rooftop solar PV system (10Kw, with 8Kw inverter) for 3.5 years. It paid for itself in just on 3 years. My average monthly production is 1.08mWh, with about 40% self-consumption. So I'm saving $100 (400kWh x 25c/kWh) in grid charges and earning $60 (600kWh X10c/kWh) for my feed-in-tariff per month.
Which is a long winded way of saying I could easily charge an EV 50% of the time during the day (combination of some WFH and weekends) at a cost to me forgoing the FiT of 10c/kWh from my solar PV system.
I'm very impressed that your EV only uses 8kWh/100km (if I correctly read your figure above). I will be aiming for the most efficient EV I can get (roughly 12kWh/100km) when I'm ready to buy.
Using these figures in my calculation above the electricity cost of an EV for me will therefore be $2.10 per 100km ((12 x 0.25 x 0.5 = $1.50) + (12 x 0.10 x 0.5 = $0.60)) and again based on 13k travelled per year would be $273 per year ($2.10 x 130) for electricity 50% from the grid and 50% from my solar PV.
So my saving of powering/fueling would be $1,547 per year compared to my current petrol vehicle.
I'm very impressed that your EV only uses 8kWh/100km (if I correctly read your figure above).
Sadly - no it's 8km/kWh as stated (much easier for other math to use this format), which is 12.5kWh/100km - at the low end of the range you were talking about, and at your target. It's still pretty efficient though. Our in laws have an Atto 3, and thats around 16kWh/100km.
Your approach pretty well matches ours - charging costs an effective 10c/kWh at effectively 100% solar, and only uses a small proportion of our solar production.
The one thing I will say - check your actual km/year - the 13k is just a thumb in the air. You may find the change becomes much more interesting if you are doing longer distances.
Would suit me… I hate, hate, going to the petrol station.
Add a bike pump with pressure gauge or an Ozito inflator and you are pretty well set! (we had a small puncture a few weeks ago, and the inflator gave us enough pressure for a run down the hill to get it repaired).
We absolutely have not been to a servo since we got the car. And happier for it.
Quick update - my first round of numbers were incorrect (joys of doing two things at once) - the payback for the $10k on average driving is closer 15 years! So on economic terms worse than not great for this case.
The 20,0000km figure is more like 6-9 years 80%solar/without solar. 30,000km pushes it to 4-6 years (which is very great!).
Doesn't change my conclusions, but I hate leaving incorrect info out there.
That isn't very fair comparison. Swift is much smaller car, less features, weaker power.
I like mine. Have the GT model. Annoyed NSW have no rebates now and charge for stamp duty as well.
Only things I don't like about the vehicle is it still does not have android auto ,despite dealer assuring me it does.
The car is indeed larger than it looks. It's bigger than the SUV I had before it, the boot is tiny too so l would not recommend it for anyone with a stroller.
Currently getting 400 km per battery a full charge costs $4.80 from home overnight charging.
On the road charging much more expensive but should only need that when on holidays.
This car cost $48k but it was only $5k more than my last car . The GWM ora has many more tech,safety features plus sunroof etc that my older car did not.
Amazing EV prices. In NSW, the driveway price is same for a new lowest end Toyota Corolla hatch. Ascent Sport: $36000. 1.8L hybrid.
Corolla Sedan starts at $33k for petrol, and $36k for hybrid.
Yaris hybrid starts at $32k.
So confused when BYD OMG China China China China, Chinese company in comments. GWM is Chinese but nobody crying???
Too many negative comments about China and Chinese products. Weve all been buying and consuming Chinese products for our entire lives. Suddenly lots of fear mongering. I think it's all blown out of proportion. I welcome the competition on traditional mainstream brands that have historically owned the market share in the west.
Whilst I don't own one, I've been considering one, as i'm a huge fan of the design and the Ora (called Good Cat overseas) has received great reviews in the UK.
The car was co developed with BMW and the new Mini will share the same platform. This isn't some fly by night Chinese company.
For $35k the standard is a good deal especially when you compare it to a hybrid Corolla:
* Cheaper than a Corolla
* Lower running costs than a Corolla
* 7 year warranty on the car and battery
* Only costs $99 per service
The Ultra variation also has niceties such as massaging seats.
The downside is that GWM hasn't enabled app connectivity like they have in other countries (deal breaker for me) and apparently the LKA is intrusive.
I'd buy one but I really need to be able to tow a box trailer just to take stuff to the tip and move things around from time to time. This has no towing capacity at all.
Easy: just use carsharing services like Uber Next Door or GoGet for that. Or hire a skip instead with all the money you save from petrol.
I like how it looks! The downside is the boot size. That's too small for a family.
yeah the compromised boot is a really shame. They completely messed up the design there, to the point that it's a dealbreaker for me.
Depends, I have suggested this car to my mum who is 70 and doesn't need a big boot. Also, I think this car looks like an old ladies car.
In practical terms it’s quite wide and deep actually. Eg I fit 50L bags of soil vertically in it.
Where it is definitely compromised is height. Because it chops off where the car tapers in the higher you go, you don’t have as much height as you’d like.
On FB ad popped up with these prices but comments showed even cheaper -
With a potent 48kWh Ternary Lithium battery, a driving range of up to 310km and a rapid charge time from 10-80% in just 41 minutes the Ora EV is an electric vehicle packed full of potent performance. Now available from just $34,490 driveaway*
Sounds potent.
Not sure why they're all cheaper by another $2k in QLD. Check carsale.com.au
e.g. NEW stock not demos which are even cheaper but no rebate.
Standard = $33,990 drive away. Extended = $38,990 drive away. Plus $3-6k govt rebate it's very cheap.
I think that's only at the Gladstone dealership.
Don't get me wrong, probably worth the drive for $2000. But, I'd be more tempted if it was closer to Brisbane.
Oh you're right. Might be able to ring up Brisbane dealerships to match price. Otherwise Gladstone is only 5-6hrs away. Can always fly there then drive back.
Just test drove one today. Excellent execution.
A very good candidate which can replace corolla/swift/mazda2/jazz etc
Extended range with 63kwh is superb.
I would have preferred the Extended range to be in the 35k range and the Base model to be in the 29k range. Well give another year and we may see many models in that bracket.
Not a thing to hate or complain in this one. Good range, good looks, good interiors, Infotainment not comparable to Tesla but split screen with Carplay/Android auto is superbly executed.
Extended range model with 63 kwh at 40k is super tasty cookie that can do interstate with ease. With Car play or Android auto just use ABRP app to plan you cross country trips and you are not going to miss anything.
And Ohh boy that Red color for just $595 extra is a cherry on top….
This is coming from a Tesla owner who loves my M3 Highland to the sky. So go figure.
What an awesome overview. Did you test out Android Auto?
It is wired and I didn't carry a cable. But you can test it yourselves with your own phone. Just book a test drive. It seems pretty run of the mill implementation and felt very stable and polished by the looks of it.
What’s a 48 kWH Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery. Never heard of this lithium iron 🤔
Prepaying petrol, acting on climate change if that fits your world view (ahead on emissions in 2-4 years depending your charge mix).
Economics aren't great on current aussie averages - 13,000km/year, 0.25c/kWh, $2/l - works to about 12 years for break even ex time value of money and cost of maintenance (EVs are massively cheaper for long term maintenance costs battery replacement aside).
But, starts to look like a screaming deal if you do more kms per year (or your work requires it) and/or you have solar. At 20,0000km, break even is 6-8 years with 80% solar/no solar. The more km, the better the payback.
And these numbers are also likely to improve with time - cost of power is likely to come down in the long term. Petrol is only going up (probably much faster than price of power changes due to all the crap happening in the world). Which tends to make the EV look better still.
So if money is your primary driver, depends on your expected mileage and to a lesser extent if you have and can use solar to charge.