Diesel beats electric for lowest cost travel from Pretoria to Durban (2024)

The cost of charging an electric vehicle (EV) to drive from Pretoria to Durban is over 50% cheaper than filling up a petrol car to cover the same route.

However, using a similar diesel-powered model — at least in terms of internal features and tech — would be the most affordable overall.

MyBroadband recently travelled over 1,400km on the popular N3 route and the areas surrounding Durban over a long weekend using the Volvo EX30 Ultra Twin Motor Performance.

While electricity charges vary from one area to the next, the energy consumed in an EV is typically around 50% to 60% cheaper per kilometer of travel than using a similar petrol car if it comes from home charging.

However, the gap between the charging and refuelling costs shrinks as the EV driver needs to rely more on public fast charging stations, which come with a premium.

Whereas households in South Africa pay around R3.00 to R4.00 per kWh of energy, public charging operators on long-distance routes in South Africa typically charge either R5.88 kWh or R7.35 per kWh.

On our drive between Pretoria and Durban, we only used home charging to recharge the EX30’s battery back to the same level it was upon our initial departure.

That accounted for about 54.50kWh of the energy used for the trip.

The remaining 264.43kWh of electricity — over 82% of the total energy consumed — came from public charging stations.

The total cost of charging the EX30 to cover the 1,458.5km of travelling worked out to R2,090.82.

If we could use our overnight accommodation to charge the EV, the overall cost would have been substantially less.

That would apply even if we paid for the electricity we consumed at the rate that the accommodation providers were billed by their utilities.

In addition, it should be noted although we stuck to speed limits, the driving was frugal and someone with more moderate acceleration habits would likely have recorded far better efficiency.

The table below summarises the charging cost for the Volvo EX30 Twin Motor Performance using the various types of chargers on our trip from Pretoria to Durban.

The EX30 is built from the ground up as an electric vehicle and does not have directly comparable petrol or diesel models.

However, several options on the market have similar internal, comfort, and tech specifications and compete in similar pricing segments.

The BMW X1 and Volvo XC40 are two of the nearest comparable models.

The X1 comes with either a petrol or diesel engine, while the XC40 is offered with only a petrol engine.

The Volvo XC40 would have racked up an estimated bill of R2,725.08, over 30% more expensive than the EX30’s recharges. That is based on its claimed consumption of 7.84ℓ/100km.

Diesel cheapest but far less powerful

The X1 sDrive 18d diesel model offers an impressive claimed fuel consumption figure that ensured its fuel bill was the lowest.

However, that significant efficiency comes with a big caveat.

The X1’s maximum power of 110kW and 360Nm torque are far below the EX30’s 315kW output and instant electric torque of 543Nm.

Whereas the EX30 can sprint from a standstill to 100km/h in 3.6 seconds, the X1 takes nine seconds.

Therefore, one could argue that the X1 cannot be considered a true competitor to the EX30.

In fact, there is no commercially-available diesel model in South Africa that has as much power as the EX30 Twin Motor.

Torque figures are also not directly comparable, as diesel engines tend to run at higher torque without delivering the same acceleration as petrol models.

With regards to power and torque, the Ford Mustang GT is the closest petrol competitor to the EX30.

Its high consumption rate of 12.3ℓ/100km would have seen it consuming R4,210.90’s petrol, over double the EX30’s recharging costs.

The table below compares the real-world costs of using the EX30 to travel between Pretoria and Durban and the estimated costs of covering the same distance in similar petrol and diesel models.