EV running costs after the RUC exemption ends: do the sums
The NZ Angle
From 1 April 2025, light electric vehicles pay the same road-user charges as diesel vehicles: $76 per 1,000 kilometres at the current rate. That is not a rumour or a future proposal; it is already on the books. The exemption that made EVs cheaper to run on a per-kilometre basis for the past few years is gone, and the RUC liability now applies from the first kilometre you drive. For Canterbury buyers this matters because the South Island driving pattern tends toward higher annual kilometres than the national average, particularly for anyone commuting from Rolleston, Rangiora, or Lincoln into Christchurch. More kilometres means the RUC line item grows faster. The other local factor is electricity pricing: Orion network charges sit at a level that makes overnight home charging cost-effective, but that advantage now has to work harder to offset the RUC. Canterbury winters also put greater demand on EV range thanks to heating loads, which affects real-world efficiency and therefore the effective per-kilometre electricity cost. None of this makes a used EV a bad buy in 2025, but the calculus has shifted enough that buyers owe themselves twenty minutes with a calculator before signing anything.
The RUC exemption for light EVs expired 1 April 2025. Here is what full road-user charges actually mean for Canterbury buyers weighing a used Leaf or Atto 3 against petrol or hybrid alternatives.
The RUC exemption for light EVs ran for several years and did genuine work in making the ownership numbers stack up. As of 1 April 2025, it is finished. Light EVs now pay $76 per 1,000 km in road-user charges, the same rate applied to diesel vehicles. Buyers who bought their Leaf or Atto 3 before that date and factored zero RUC into their running cost assumptions are now looking at a real change to their budget.
The question for anyone still shopping is straightforward: after adding full RUC, does a used EV still beat a comparable petrol or hybrid on per-kilometre running costs?
The short answer is: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and it depends heavily on which car you compare it to.
What the numbers look like in practice
Take a 2018 Nissan Leaf with the 40 kWh battery, currently trading in the $18,000 to $22,000 range for clean examples. Real-world efficiency in Canterbury driving, including winter heating, sits around 7 to 7.5 km per kWh. At an average overnight home charging rate of around 28 to 32 cents per kWh, that puts electricity cost at roughly 4 to 4.5 cents per kilometre. Add RUC at $76 per 1,000 km, which is 7.6 cents per kilometre, and the combined per-kilometre energy and road-use cost lands at about 11.5 to 12 cents.
A 2019 Toyota Aqua or a 2018 Honda Fit running on petrol at $2.70 per litre, with real-world consumption of 5.5 to 6 litres per 100 km, costs around 14.9 to 16.2 cents per kilometre on fuel alone, no RUC required for petrol. That gap still favours the Leaf, but it has narrowed considerably from what it was when the EV paid nothing in road-user charges.
Now compare the Leaf to a 2018 Toyota Prius, which typically returns 4.2 to 4.8 litres per 100 km in real New Zealand use. At $2.70 per litre, that is 11.3 to 13 cents per kilometre. Suddenly the Leaf's advantage is marginal, and when you account for the fact that a clean 2018 Prius is generally cheaper to buy than a clean 40 kWh Leaf right now, the overall ownership proposition gets complicated.
The BYD Atto 3 is a different price bracket. Used examples from 2022 and 2023 are sitting in the $32,000 to $38,000 range. The Atto 3 is a larger, heavier vehicle, and real-world consumption runs around 18 to 19 kWh per 100 km in mixed driving. That puts electricity cost at around 5.4 cents per kilometre, plus 7.6 cents RUC, totalling roughly 13 cents per kilometre for energy and road use. Compare that to a 2021 Mazda CX-5 petrol at 8.5 to 9 litres per 100 km and $2.70 per litre: you are looking at 23 to 24 cents per kilometre on fuel. At that scale the Atto 3 wins clearly on running costs, though the purchase price gap between a $35,000 Atto 3 and a comparable CX-5 is smaller than it was two years ago.
Servicing, tyres, and what breaks
Running costs are not just energy and RUC. Servicing a Leaf is genuinely cheap: no oil changes, simple brake wear due to regenerative braking, and the 2018-generation Leaf has a well-understood reliability record in New Zealand. The known issue is 40 kWh battery degradation, particularly in cars that have done a lot of DC fast charging. At 80,000 to 100,000 km you want to check the battery health report before buying. A Leaf that shows ten bars instead of twelve is not a disaster, but it changes the range maths and should move the price.
The Atto 3 is newer and the long-term reliability picture is less settled. Parts availability through local BYD channels has improved, but it is not in the same position as a Nissan or Toyota where a replacement part can come from a local wrecker or arrive from Japan in a week. That is a real consideration for Canterbury owners who depend on their car for daily use.
Tyres are a running cost that EV buyers sometimes underestimate. Both the Leaf and the Atto 3 are heavier than their petrol equivalents, and tyre wear reflects that. Budget $900 to $1,200 for a full set on the Leaf, more on the Atto 3 given its larger fitment, and expect to replace them more frequently than you would on a light petrol hatchback.
What the shift actually changes
Before April 2025, the zero-RUC status of EVs was doing a lot of work in the ownership calculation. It masked the fact that, for moderate annual kilometres, a well-maintained petrol hybrid was already close to competitive. Now that the RUC line is visible, the honest comparison looks different.
For a high-mileage driver doing 25,000 km or more per year, the per-kilometre savings in a Leaf over a standard petrol car are still meaningful in dollar terms. Over 25,000 km, the difference between 12 cents and 16 cents per kilometre is $1,000 annually. That adds up.
For someone doing 12,000 km a year, the annual saving over a hybrid is now small enough that purchase price, insurance, and the specific condition of the battery on any given second-hand EV matter more than the running cost calculation.
By Paul Gray. See our editorial standards or email sales@premiumwholesalecars.co.nz with corrections.
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