High fuel costs prompt vehicle change for working man

When Winton man Jamie Cunningham was driving his V6 three litre car to Gore and back for work each day, it was costing him $24 a day in petrol, or $5760 a year.

Then Russia invaded Ukraine, the price of fuel jumped, and he was paying $30 a day in petrol for the same 125km round trip, equating to $7200 a year – an annual increase of $1440.

When working out the costs, in a car that ran on the more expensive 95 octane fuel, it got ‘‘really heavy’’, he said.

So Cunningham purchased a 1.4 litre car, which uses the cheaper 91 unleaded petrol, and his fuel costs dropped to $23 a day.

Despite having a more economical car for work, other living costs had continued to rise, so Cunningham said he now limited the number of times he drove to Invercargill.

‘‘Now we have to actually think, do we really need to go to Invercargill, can it wait until the weekend, so we are paring back the other trips we do.’’

Having previously owned an electric car, he sold it because it didn’t have the battery capacity to travel from Winton to Gore and return each day. But in future he plans to buy an electric car with a battery range that will cover the distance, though the $40,000 cost was currently putting him off.

A 2021 report commissioned by Great South said Southland had one of the lowest rates of electric vehicle ownership in New Zealand [0.67 vehicles per 1000 people] compared to Auckland’s 7.24 electric vehicles per 1000 people.

A survey of Southlanders revealed reasons for the low uptake of electric vehicles included concerns over cost, battery-related reservations, range, life span, towing ability and suitability for gravel roads.

Until the costs reduced and more Southlanders got on board with electric vehicles, many were seeking out the cheapest fuel options.

Cunningham was among them, saying Gore’s prices were cheaper than in Invercargill and Winton, so that’s where he filled up.

In Invercargill a popular fill-up spot is the NPD self serve station on Bond St.

On Thursday Barry Skeggs spent $150 to fill his vehicle with diesel, whereas it was about $100 prior to Russia invading Ukraine, he said.

Though it was ‘‘bloody dear’’ he was saving 15 cents a litre when compared to buying it at another service station near his Invercargill home.

Another woman filling up with petrol at the NPD said she used the Gasby app to determine the cheapest places to buy fuel.

Allan Henderson, who was putting diesel into his vehicle, noted diesel users also had road user charges to pay, but said there was nothing he could do about the cost.

‘‘You have to have it, so you have to pay for it [but] it stops me travelling as much as I used to.’’

‘‘. . . it stops me travelling as much as I used to.’’ Allan Henderson