Hybrids were the cheapest vehicles to own in all four classes where AAA lined up electric, hybrid and gas-only models side by side this year. In AAA’s tables, a hybrid medium sedan runs $10,204 a year, against $10,582 for the gas version and $13,662 for the electric one. The same order holds for compact SUVs, medium SUVs and pickups. The EVs came close to the gas models in two of those classes and beat them in one. Where the EVs lost, the line that sank them was depreciation: what AAA expects them to be worth in five years.
AAA released its annual Your Driving Costs study on Sept. 15. The overall figure: owning and running an average new vehicle costs $12,863 a year, or $1,071.92 a month, over five years and 75,000 miles. AAA put last year’s figure at $11,577 but said its methodology changed, so the two numbers are not directly comparable. The study covers 34 top-selling models in seven categories. Those categories used to hold only gas-powered models. This year AAA folded select EVs and hybrids into them, and ran a separate powertrain comparison in four classes.
Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering, said in the release that comparing EVs, hybrids and gas models “within the same categories” lets consumers “better understand how total ownership costs vary by powertrain.”
AAA’s powertrain comparison, class by class
These are AAA’s annual totals at 15,000 miles a year, from the study brochure. The last column is The Auto Wire’s subtraction.
| Class | Electric | Gas | Hybrid | EV vs. gas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medium sedan | $13,662 | $10,582 | $10,204 | +$3,080 |
| Compact SUV | $11,888 | $11,656 | $11,201 | +$232 |
| Medium SUV | $14,332 | $14,431 | $13,698 | −$99 |
| Pickup | $17,414 | $16,626 | $16,117 | +$788 |
AAA’s release leans on the medium sedan, where the EV costs 29.1% more a year than the gas car. That is the widest gap of the four. In compact SUVs the electric model costs $232 more a year, which works out to about $19 a month. In medium SUVs, the EV is $99 a year cheaper than the gas model. In pickups the electric truck costs $788 more.
The release’s subheadline says fuel savings don’t offset higher ownership costs. That holds for sedans and pickups. In compact SUVs the difference is close to a rounding error, and in medium SUVs AAA’s own table shows the opposite.
Charging saves $1,500 to $2,400 a year
AAA priced regular gas at $4.152 a gallon, the average for the 12 months ending in May 2026, and home electricity at 18.0 cents per kilowatt-hour. The release says gas prices were up 31.8% from the 2025 study, while electricity rose 7.8%. At those prices, the EVs’ energy bills ran 66% to 70% below the gas models’ fuel bills in every class. In dollars, by my count from AAA’s tables, the electric sedan saves $1,502.50 a year on energy, the compact SUV $1,611, the medium SUV $2,157 and the pickup $2,376.
The EVs also cost less to maintain in all four classes, from $45 a year less in the medium SUV to $552 less in the compact SUV. AAA’s maintenance line includes scheduled service, an extended warranty, wear-and-tear repairs and one set of replacement tires.
One assumption is built into that fuel line: 18.0 cents is a home-charging rate. An owner who lives in an apartment and relies on public fast chargers pays a higher rate per kilowatt-hour, and gives back part of that saving. AAA’s Your Driving Costs calculator lets shoppers adjust for location and driving habits.
Depreciation erases the fuel savings
AAA calculates depreciation as the difference between what a buyer pays for the new vehicle and its estimated trade-in value after five years and 75,000 miles, according to the study’s fact sheet. The trade-in half of that is a projection. Nobody has sold a 2026 model with 75,000 miles on it yet.
That projection is the largest single line in every EV column. AAA has the electric medium sedan losing $6,786 a year, or $33,930 over five years. The gas sedan loses $3,330 a year. The $3,456 annual difference is larger than the sedan EV’s entire $3,080 cost disadvantage. The same pattern runs through the other classes: the EV’s extra depreciation is $1,730 a year in compact SUVs, $2,025 in medium SUVs and $2,178 in pickups.
I ran AAA’s tables a second way, holding everything else fixed and giving each EV the same depreciation as its gas counterpart. Under that assumption the EV becomes the cheaper of the two in all four classes. The sedan, for example, would come in at $10,206 a year against $10,582 for gas. That is a hypothetical, and EVs do lose value faster in AAA’s estimates. It does show where the whole argument sits. A buyer weighing an EV against a gas car in AAA’s numbers is mostly making a bet on resale value, not on energy prices.
Gas prices would have to climb a long way to settle the sedan question. Even with diesel at record highs this fall, the numbers here run on regular gas. Using the fuel economy implied by AAA’s gas-sedan figures, about 28 mpg, regular would need to reach roughly $9.93 a gallon before the electric sedan’s fuel savings covered its $3,080 gap. For the compact SUV, the break-even is about $4.56. For the pickup, about $5.06. Those are The Auto Wire’s calculations from AAA’s tables, with every other cost held constant.
Finance charges and registration fees follow the sticker price
Depreciation isn’t the only cost that rises with price. AAA bases its finance charges on a five-year loan with 15% down at the national average rate, and the release says the actual purchase price is used to calculate both finance costs and depreciation. A pricier vehicle means a bigger loan and more interest. The electric pickup carries $2,149 a year in finance charges, against $1,601 for the gas truck. For buyers already stretched by record monthly payments, that difference arrives every month.
AAA’s license, registration and tax line is higher for every EV, by $225 to $453 a year. AAA doesn’t itemize it. Two things push it up. Sales tax, and in some states an annual vehicle property tax, rises with the price. And according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 42 states now charge a special registration fee for EVs. NCSL lists amounts from $70 in New Mexico, starting in 2027, to $290 in New Jersey, starting in 2028. NCSL ties the fees to a declining gas tax, which EV owners don’t pay at the pump and which states rely on to fund roads.
Federal help is gone from the purchase side. The IRS says the new and used clean vehicle credits are not available for vehicles acquired after Sept. 30, 2025, under Public Law 119-21, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill. Not every EV qualified for the full $7,500 credit before. But spread across AAA’s five-year window, $7,500 is $1,500 a year, which is more than the compact SUV and pickup EVs’ cost gaps.
Insurance is mixed. The electric medium SUV costs $353 a year less to insure than its gas counterpart in AAA’s figures. The electric sedan costs $366 more.
Hybrids hold their value close to gas models
Hybrids win AAA’s comparison by giving away little on depreciation, finance and fees, while still cutting the fuel bill. The hybrid medium sedan’s fuel cost is $1,436 a year, against $2,215 for the gas car, and its depreciation is only $409 a year higher. In medium SUVs and pickups, AAA projects the hybrid will lose less value than the gas model: $4,822 against $5,052 a year for the SUV, and $6,370 against $6,446 for the pickup. The hybrid’s annual advantage over gas ranges from $378 in sedans to $733 in medium SUVs.
Automakers seem to have read the same spreadsheet. Hyundai outsold Ford on hybrids in August, and Georgia is getting a $560 million plant to build Hyundai hybrid transmissions.
Used-EV prices will decide whether AAA’s forecast holds
AAA’s study cannot show what a 2026 electric sedan will be worth in 2031. That depends on what used-EV buyers will pay then, how batteries in this generation age, and whether the new-EV prices those cars compete with go up or down. If AAA’s resale projections come in too low, the EV columns in this table will look better in hindsight. If they come in right, the medium sedan buyer who chose electric gives up about $15,400 over five years, by AAA’s numbers.
Three things worth doing before you sign: Compare like-for-like models in the same class, not EVs to gas cars in general, because the gap ranges from $3,080 against the EV to $99 in its favor. Ask what a three- or five-year-old version of the EV you are considering sells for today. And, as AAA advises, get financing pre-approved before you reach the dealer’s finance office, because the loan grows with the price.
AAA’s math says the EV verdict rests on resale. What will a 2026 electric sedan be worth in 2031, and would you bet the $15,400 AAA says it costs you?