EV vs Hybrid vs Plug-in Hybrid: Which Suits You in Australia?

For most Australians who can charge at home, a full electric car (BEV) is the cheapest to run by a wide margin, and a regular hybrid (HEV) is the sensible choice if you cannot. A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sits between them and only pays off if you actually plug it in most nights. On today’s numbers an EV charged at home costs about $4.80 per 100 km, a hybrid about $10.70 and an average petrol car about $16.60. Tax matters too: only a full EV still gets the fringe benefits tax exemption on a new novated lease.

What is the difference between a hybrid, a plug-in hybrid and an EV?

The Green Vehicle Guide splits them the same way a salesperson should.

Hybrid (HEV). A petrol engine with a small battery and electric motor. You never plug it in: the battery recharges from braking and from the engine. It drives on electricity only at low speeds, so you are still buying petrol every week, just less of it. Toyota’s RAV4 and Corolla hybrids are the familiar examples. Some cars badged “mild hybrid” are really petrol cars with a small electrical assist.

Plug-in hybrid (PHEV). A bigger battery you charge from a powerpoint or charger, plus a petrol engine that takes over when the battery runs out. The current Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV has a 22.7 kWh battery and a claimed 103 km of electric range on the lab test. Range-extender EVs, where the engine only acts as a generator, are listed as plug-in hybrids too.

Battery electric (BEV, or just EV). No engine at all. You charge at home, at work or at public chargers, and the battery is several times the size of a PHEV’s.

Which is cheapest to run per 100 km?

We use the same method as our guide to what it costs to charge an electric car: 16 kWh per 100 km for a typical EV and a 7 L/100 km petrol car. For petrol we have used the ACCC’s weekly monitoring report of 24 September 2026, which put the five-largest-city average at 237.1 cents a litre on 23 September (regional locations averaged 242.7). That is high by historical standards, driven by the Middle East conflict, and it will move. The hybrid figure is the lab-tested 4.5 L/100 km of Toyota’s RAV4 GX hybrid, and the flat-battery PHEV figure is Mitsubishi’s published 6.2 L/100 km for the 2025-on Outlander PHEV.

Over 12,000 km a year, that is roughly $1,990 in fuel for the petrol car, $1,280 for the hybrid and $575 for an EV on a flat home rate. Two caveats. Lab fuel figures flatter every car, so expect a little more in real driving. And a PHEV SUV is heavier than a small EV, so on battery it will use somewhat more electricity than our 16 kWh.

The row that surprises people is the flat-battery PHEV. On Mitsubishi’s own figures the Outlander PHEV’s official “weighted combined” rating is 1.2 L/100 km, but that figure blends a test started fully charged, where it uses no petrol at all, with one started flat. Run it without plugging in and the same car uses 6.2 L/100 km, more than a conventional hybrid, because it is carrying a 22.7 kWh battery around for nothing. The other row worth noticing is the last one: an EV that can only use public fast chargers costs about the same per kilometre as a hybrid, which is why home or workplace charging decides most of this comparison.

What does the FBT change mean for plug-in hybrids?

If you are thinking of salary packaging the car, this is the biggest single difference. Since 1 April 2025 the ATO no longer treats plug-in hybrids as zero or low emissions vehicles, so a new PHEV novated lease attracts fringe benefits tax like a petrol car. Leases already running with a financially binding commitment keep the exemption until they end, but changing the arrangement can end it. Hybrids were never eligible.

Battery EVs under the luxury car tax threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles are still exempt, which can make an EV lease far cheaper for an employee on $120,000 than a hybrid at the same price. Our EV novated lease guide works through the numbers, and the exemption itself is due to tighten: the government has announced a price cap from 1 April 2027 and a phase-down from 2029, which we track in when the EV FBT exemption ends.

How does the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard affect the choice?

The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) started on 1 January 2025, with the regulator enforcing it from 1 July 2025. It gives each carmaker an average CO2 target across the new cars it sells, and the target falls over time. It does not ban any model, and it is technology neutral, so a carmaker can meet it with efficient petrol cars, hybrids, PHEVs or EVs.

For buyers, the practical effect is more choice of hybrids and EVs, because selling them is how most brands meet their targets. The government’s position is that there is no evidence the standard raises car prices. What it does not do is change what you pay to run the car you already have.

Which is better for road trips and country driving?

This is where hybrids still earn their place. A hybrid or PHEV refuels in five minutes anywhere, and a PHEV on a long trip simply behaves like a hybrid once the battery is used up. An EV needs a plan: highway speeds, heat and hills all cut range, and our guide to how far an EV can really go explains by how much. Our charger map shows where the fast chargers actually are, so check your usual routes before you commit.

Towing is the harder case. Towing a caravan roughly halves an EV’s range in Australian testing, which means far more charging stops on a long trip, often at chargers not designed for a car with a van attached. If you tow a van across the country every winter, a hybrid or diesel is still the easier life for now.

What about servicing?

EVs need the least. There is no oil, spark plugs, timing belt or exhaust, though tyres, brake fluid, cabin filters and the 12V battery still need attention, as our guide to whether electric cars need servicing explains. A hybrid needs everything a petrol car needs. A PHEV carries both systems, so you service the engine on schedule even if it rarely runs.

Which one suits you?

If you are leaning towards an EV and want to see what the entry price looks like now, start with our guide to the cheapest electric cars in Australia. Fuel and electricity prices both move, so treat the per-100 km figures above as a snapshot of September 2026 rather than a promise.