9 October

Amortisation. Why things like solar and hybrids/EVs make you lots of money, at a time money is very tight for people. The ticket or sticker price can seem high (and is dropping fast anyway), but you have to do the simple maths over a few years. For example I commute about 30,000km per year. The hybrids we have cost about $2K more than a standard petrol or diesel, though again the difference is collapsing quickly. But in our case, I’m saving between $3000-$4000 per year in fuel costs. The difference in sticker price for the car, to an ordinary petrol or diesel, will be amortised inside a year. We’ll drive the cars for 5 or 6, or maybe even longer. So by year 2 already we’re well ahead, in dollar terms. More than $20,000 extra in our pockets over the lifetime of the cars.