Alex Almagro had sold his boat. His Mitsubishi Triton ute was reliable and a good tow vehicle, but now that he had a long commute to work at the Port of Brisbane, Alex didn’t need his towing skills or the diesel bill of more than $500 a month.
He was now looking for a new, fuel-efficient car. He also didn’t need to carry tools or supplies, and since the family only had one child, a regular-sized sedan was a good choice.
However, there was still diesel in his life as Alex drives huge Super B trucks to and from the docks. Motorists won’t see a Super B very often as they are restricted to certain roads.
These 30 meter monsters are 4 meters longer than a B Double and can transport up to four 20 foot containers or two 40 foot containers at the same time.
Alex chose Toyota’s proven hybrid technology and put down a deposit on a Camry. The Toyota dealer told him openly that there would be an eight-month wait.
Long wait times were common across the industry at the time due to COVID and various supplier issues.
After six months, the dealer called to say there would be a price increase of a few thousand dollars – but couldn’t give an estimated time of arrival.
Six months later, another call from the dealer didn’t bring good news. Not only was there no estimated time of arrival, but the price had also increased by another $1800.
Two more months passed. During this time, he began seriously researching his vehicle options CarExpert.com.au, and also enjoyed a family vacation. Interstate relatives had recently purchased a high-performance electric vehicle, and while on vacation, Alex’s family had their first direct experience with fuel-free driving.
“The performance was amazing, but what was really interesting was the low cost of ownership,” he said.
After further research and with thousands of dollars in incentives on the table from the Queensland Government, Alex had made his decision and canceled his Camry.
“After 14 months, they still didn’t have an ETA. They just contact me to tell me that the car I don’t have will be more expensive,” he said.
He then ordered a Tesla Model 3 RWD.
“I wanted the LFP batteries to be able to be regularly charged to 100 percent and enjoy the full range of 450 km,” he explained.
Tesla hadn’t been cutting the price of these cars for long and by using his relative’s referral code when purchasing, he got a 7kW wall plug for $700 to charge the car in his garage – at no additional cost.
“But I still had to wait,” he said. “The difference was that Tesla had stated that delivery would take seven weeks, and it was exactly seven weeks later when I picked up the car – and the price had not increased.”
Now that he’s had the car for several months, he can’t believe how cheap the vehicle is to run.
“Even without our solar panels, the car would cost us about $80 a month in electricity, but normally it’s about $50,” he said.
“The other thing I will like is the lack of maintenance as it cost me $1,000 a year to maintain the ute.”
When asked how he found the other aspects of the car, he said: “The technology is very impressive. The navigation, the phone app and its capabilities and how everything works so smoothly is simply impressive. It doesn’t hurt that it has plenty of poke, either.”
When asked what he didn’t like, he replied: “On rougher roads the suspension can be hard. Overall it’s not terrible – just tighter than I’d like.”
Alex will be buying a double cab vehicle again in the future and while he misses the utility of his Triton, he will wait until there are some decent plug-in hybrid or electric options on the market before spending any money.
He admitted that he faced some teasing from his colleagues after the purchase, but questions soon followed about how much money he was saving, how much he wanted to charge and other typical EV-related things.
“There are so many of them out and about now; It is just a matter of time and a little knowledge, and technology will not worry people,” he said.
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