Electric vs petrol costs from Johannesburg to Cape Town — it’s not even close anymore

With South Africa’s fuel prices hitting record levels, recharging the country’s highest-range electric vehicle now costs half as much as filling up a comparable petrol-driven car.

That is according to a comparison of the running costs of the electric BMW iX xDrive 50 and petrol-powered BMW X5 M50i on a trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town in July 2022.

MyBroadband performed a similar comparison in January 2022, in which the electric vehicle’s trip came out as the more affordable option.

At that point, the inland price for a litre of unleaded 95 petrol was R19.61, and the coastal price was R18.89. These have since surged to R26.74 inland and R25.99 on the coast.

While South Africa still only has a meagre number of charging stations compared to fuel stations, GridCars has rolled out several charging points along the N1 to allow electric vehicle (EV) owners to get from Gauteng to Cape Town without getting range anxiety.

For those who want an even lower chance of running out of charge, the BMW iX xDrive50 boasts a massive 111.5kWh battery.

The German manufacturer says it can run for 570km on the European WLTP cycle, making it the EV with the best range in South Africa.

Although petrol costs have shot up in recent months, electricity prices have also increased, raising the question of whether it is still cheaper to use the EV.

However, GridCars still charges the same R5.88 per kWh it previously did when charging via one of its 22kW, 30kW, 60kW, or 80kW fast chargers.

Even though it is far more expensive than charging at home, it only costs around R557.50 to fill the BMW iX’s battery at a GridCars station.

To cover the 1,400km between Johannesburg and Cape Town, you would use about 373kWh of battery power.

When driving on the highway while using the air conditioning and assuming an outdoor temperature of 30 degrees, BMW estimates drivers can expect around 395km on a charge, or 3.75km/kWh. That is based on the useable capacity of 105.2kWh.

With the GridCars fast charging price of R5.88 per kWh, using the EV would cost about R1.57 per kilometre or R2,198 for the entire trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

If you charge the car at home for the first leg of the trip, you could cut that price by a few hundred rands.

On Joburg City Power’s Block 3 domestic tariff of R2.74, it would cost R306 for the first top-up from 0-100%.

If that provides the estimated 395km of range, only another 1,005km would have to be added via fast charging — costing R1,578.

That would reduce the trip’s electricity cost to around R1,884.

Compare this to what you would have to pay for the petrol in the BMW X5 M50i, the nearest petrol-driven model in terms of luxury, performance, and features.

The BMW X5 M50i has a highway-based fuel consumption of around  9.4l/100km, equivalent to 10.64km/l.

Based on the inland unleaded 95 price of R26.74, it would cost R2.51 to drive a kilometre with this car.

To cover the distance between Johannesburg and Cape Town, you would have to pay a hefty R3,514 for petrol.

That is R1,316 more than you would spend using only the fast-charging electricity would cost for driving the same distance with the iX.

It should be noted that the EV is somewhat more expensive than the petrol-driven model, at R2.175 million compared to R1.873 million.

However, BMW offers free charging at its dealerships and with the lower overall cost per kilometre, you could recover that difference in a few years.

The table below compares the cost of charging the BMW iX to filling up the BMW X5 for a trip from Johannesburg to Cape Town.

We have also included the costs for filling up one of the most fuel-efficient petrol cars in the country — the Toyota Aygo — and the highly popular Toyota Corolla Cross hybrid.

We did not include diesel cars in our comparison as the cost of diesel is determined by individual stations and may differ significantly.

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