The BYD Atto 1 has become the first electric vehicle to be named the cheapest car to own and run in Queensland, according to the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland's 2026 Vehicle Operating Costs Report. The entry-level Atto 1 Essential was calculated at $751 a month to own and operate over five years, a figure that excludes its current promotional pricing.
RACQ's report puts the Atto 1 Essential's five-year total at $45,037, against $50,038 for the cheapest petrol model it assessed, the Chery Tiggo 4 Urban small SUV. That gap of roughly $5,000 over five years works out to about $1,000 a year, which RACQ says the electric hatch could save motorists compared with the cheapest petrol option.
How the running costs break down
The RACQ figure of $751 a month includes $54 in monthly charging costs and is based on the Atto 1 Essential's $23,990 list price, which the report puts at $26,354 on the road. The calculation uses a private buyer with conventional finance over five years and covers loan repayments on the initial purchase, scheduled servicing, annual registration and insurance, plus the energy needed to run the car 15,000km a year.
The current promotional price of $19,990 drive-away is not factored in, so the Atto 1's real-world advantage over petrol rivals is likely larger than the headline number suggests. Location matters too: the same Atto 1 Essential was calculated at $888 a month in Western Australia, about $137 more than in Queensland, reflecting different state registration and insurance costs.
A split result across the motoring clubs
The picture is not uniform nationally. The Royal Automobile Club of Western Australia also ranked the Atto 1 as the cheapest small passenger car in its own annual running costs report published this month, but its overall rankings placed the petrol-powered MG ZS Vibe small SUV slightly ahead of it. The BYD Dolphin electric hatch, which topped the RAC WA rankings last year, has been displaced at the top.
RACQ also compared two utes and found the electric Toyota HiLux SR5 BEV cheaper to own and operate overall than a Ford Ranger Wildtrak diesel across five years. That result cuts against the assumption that electric drivetrains only pay off in small, cheap cars.
Why the ranking matters for buyers
RACQ Principal Economic and Affordability Specialist Dr Ian Jeffreys said purchase price, loan repayments and fuel or charging costs together are making EVs and plug-in hybrids a much stronger proposition for motorists. He cautioned that a cheap car is not always the right car, and that buyers should still check safety, security and suitability before deciding.
That caveat is the useful part of the result. A running costs ranking measures one thing well: the recurring cost of putting a particular car on a particular state's roads. It does not measure crash safety, insurance risk beyond the premium used in the calculation, or whether a small hatch suits a household's needs. The smarter move for buyers is to treat the Atto 1's win as a strong signal on affordability and then check the rest of the package separately.
The result also reframes the EV cost argument in Australia. The Atto 1 did not win because of a purchase price advantage, since its list price sits above the cheapest petrol SUV in the comparison. It won on the combination of charging costs, servicing and the other running expenses over five years. For drivers who cover around 15,000km a year and finance a car conventionally, that is the calculation that matters.
