NZ’s top 5 most fuel-efficient cars

EVs are a good way to save on ‘fuel’, electricity costing less than petrol if you charge off peak. However, an EV’s initial purchase cost is usually more than an equivalent petrol-powered model, especially when new. There is also the cost of Road User Charges to consider. While there are now more choices on the new market, the variety of used EVs is still limited, and many of those have smaller batteries and therefore less than ideal range. While you do most of your charging at home (the cheapest way to charge), the local charging infrastructure is still not where it should be.  

Plug-in hybrids (sometimes referred to as PHEVs) have both a combustion engine and an electric motor and battery. The latter allows for emissions free motoring, the EV range depending on the size of the battery. Some older models have a small range, perhaps as little as 20 kilometres, while the latest PHEVs are capable of in excess of 100km on the battery alone. But to get the best fuel economy from a plug-in hybrid, you have to charge it everyday, which may not be convenient for those without easy access to a plug. PHEVs are also subject to Road User Charges, though the rate is less than that applied to EVs.

Then you’ll be after a hybrid of some sort. These have a petrol engine and a small motor and battery, the latter helping ease the load of the engine to lower overall fuel consumption. These ‘self charging’ hybrids (which can be called parallel or series hybrids) use a combination of motor regeneration when braking to charge the battery while the engine itself can power a generator which then charges the battery. It all sounds confusing, but you don’t need to worry about any of the technical stuff, nor worry about charging. You simply fuel up as you normally would. But the good thing about hybrids is that you don’t have to do that very often.

NZ has a fuel economy labelling system that’ll help give you an indication of gas consumption for the vehicle you’re considering. The label will be attached to cars for sale in a dealership, and when buying privately you can find the fuel economy info online. The star rating out of six helps you compare models (six stars good, half a star bad) and the label also suggests the estimated cost per year to fuel the car (based on the average fuel price and driving 14,000km per year). The fuel consumption figure, often in the form of L/100km (how many litres it consumes to travel 100km) is the other key piece of info; the smaller the number the better. 

Here are the top 5 most fuel efficient cars for those looking for a vehicle that doesn’t require charging.

• Toyota Yaris hybrid hatch - 3.0L/100km
• Toyota Yaris Cross hybrid - 3.6L/100km
• Toyota Corolla hatch and wagon hybrid - 3.8L/100km
• Honda Jazz RS e:HEV - 3.8L/100km
• Suzuki Swift hybrid - GLS manual 4.0L/100km -  RSC auto 4.3L/100km