Electric vehicles have the lowest fuel and maintenance costs in the United States compared to hybrid and gasoline vehicles, according to the AAA’s latest “Your Driving Costs” study. But while this is common knowledge among EV owners, especially those who have a few years of experience, AAA throws a curveball and says that all that advantage could be offset by the high depreciation experienced by EVs, as well as the higher full-coverage insurance.
That said, not all vehicle categories fall under this shadow, with bigger EVs keeping their position as the most affordable vehicles to own on a cost-per-year basis. Before I dive into the details, it’s worth noting that AAA’s study looked at the best-selling models in each category–11 in the case of EVs and hybrids–and noted the average costs for fuel, maintenance, depreciation, full-coverage insurance, license and registration fees and finance charges. Furthermore, the information below is relative to a yearly driving distance of 15,000 miles and a total ownership period of five years or 75,000 miles. For EVs, an average electricity price of 15.9 cents/kilowatt-hour was taken into account as the fuel price.
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