EV Journey

After having investigated EVs back in 2024, but ultimately deciding against going ahead for several reasons — cost; infrastructure; lack of space; and dropping prices impacting residuals — I again decided in January 2026 to start researching once more.

Having moved across country ten months beforehand, the garage concerns were no longer a concern, instead, more living in rural Australia distance had now replaced lack of garage space as a concern. As I was occasionally doing longer distance travels from Wagga Wagga to other cities several hours away, having a car that only achieved a Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) around 300 kilometres just wouldn’t cut it.

I wanted cars with a WLTP range starting in the mid-500s or higher as these ranges are not actual achieved kilometres. I ended up looking at the following vehicles:

• Tesla Model 3 / Y— standard and long range
• Ford Mustang Mach-e Premium
• Kia EV3 / EV5 — Air and Earth
• Polestar 2 and 4
• BMW iX1

I was looking at novated leases for the tax benefits and contacted our workplace assigned company for quotes on several vehicles, particularly the Teslas, Ford and Kia’s after determining via their website the others just weren’t going to be a go.

It was after a trip to Sydney and passing through my cousin’s area, another rural zone, and seeing no charging infrastructure for hours, I freaked out on EV cars and decided against going ahead despite the week before almost deciding to go ahead on a Tesla 3 standard range on novated lease.

War in the gulf causes a rethink

It’s funny how global issues can force you to rethink things. What seemed an issue suddenly becomes less so when the diesel you’re pumping into your car goes from $1.75/L to $3.30/L after the United States and Israel commenced attacks on Iran.

Now , certainty on supply of fuel in Australia and around the world is uncertain and EV vehicles become highly attractive — they certainly did for me.

Faced with this uncertainty I have initiated a novated lease for the new Hyundai Elexio Elite that was released here in February, built in China. Hopefully taking delivery in the next few days, I’m excited to finally have it, not only for the much reduced cost to drive but also the tech it brings like CarPlay which my current BMW lacks. I won’t relish the charging though, but will get used to it.

Join me on my journey as I explore what it is to own an EV and how this differs from traditional ICE vehicles.