Petrol through the ages: Are cars as expensive as they seem?
- Charlie Laughton-Peake
- Jan 11, 2023
- 2 min read
New Data suggests that the price of petrol has actually remained at a constant in comparison to wages.

Newly released data from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy shows the average annual retail price of petrol has remained consistent with the average weekly income.
In 1990, the cost of petrol was three percent of the weekly wage of the average person, with petrol costing 42p per litre of fuel, with the average weekly earnings being £263. However, now in 2022, the average cost of petrol is 165p per litre, with the average weekly wage being £640, being just less than five percent of the weekly wage 1. The difference in inflation since 1990 has caused a slight increase, but how does it compare in reality to the car you may have owned?
According to the RAC, in 2012, it would have cost £74 to fill a Ford Focus with a 55l capacity. In June of this year, petrol peaked, and to fill the same car, it would have cost £105. In comparison to wages, almost 16% of the average persons wages would have gone on their petrol. This year, it is also 16%, proving the cost of petrol in comparison to wages has remained a constant.
Due to the current cost of living crisis however, people are looking towards electric cars. Despite the concerns of buying them outright is much more expensive, the Department for Transport claim: “it can cost as little as two pence to run an EV when charging on off-peak electricity. This is compared to over 20 pence per mile for petrol and diesel.”
An electric or hybrid car may seem expensive initially, with the cheapest pricing anywhere above £20,000, but over a longer period of time, users claim it is cheaper in the long run. The government are currently offering an Electric Vehicle (EV) Chargepoint Grant, offering to pay up to 75% of the cost of putting a home charging point in your home.
Timothy Clayton, a driving instructor with an electric car, said: ""It feels like I have moved out of the industrial revolution, I'm not dependent on this 'old burning dead animals' technology.

"If I'm charging from home, it costs me 20p per kilowatt hour, which is about a third of what you would pay on a public charger, which works out about four pence per mile. So a full charge costs me about five or six pound. A full battery would give me a range of around 200 miles.
"However, as I am stopping and starting, and it being in the winter, you will not get as good performance as the technology in the battery is the same as a mobile phone, its lithium ion, so if the battery is warmer, you will get a better performance out of it.
"A quote from Quentin Wilson: You need to get to the attitude of young drivers before GTA gets to them!"
1 Figures based on the weekly average miles travelled being 168, doing 40 MPG
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