The Real Cost of Driving in 2025: Gas, Electric and Hybrid Compared
Written by
Gabrielle Olya
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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Car ownership just got cheaper. According to AAA’s 2025 Your Driving Costs analysis, the average cost to own and operate a new vehicle is $11,577 — down $719 from last year. But how much you’ll actually spend depends on what you drive.
Here’s a look at the average cost to drive 15,000 miles in a new electric, gas or hybrid across four popular vehicle categories — medium sedan, compact SUV, medium SUV and pickup truck.
Cost Breakdown by Vehicle Type
To determine the total annual costs of owning a new car, AAA looked at a number of factors, including the cost of fuel, maintenance and repair costs, tire costs, insurance rates, license and registration fees, taxes, depreciation and finance charges.
Based on these calculations, here’s a look at the annual driving costs by vehicle type — gas, electric and hybrid — based on driving a new car 15,000 miles a year.
Medium Sedan
- Electric cost per year: $13,629
- Electric cost per mile: $0.913
- Gas cost per year: $9,956
- Gas cost per mile: $0.664
- Hybrid cost per year: $9,479
- Hybrid cost per mile: $0.632
Compact SUV
- Electric cost per year: $11,191
- Electric cost per mile: $0.746
- Gas cost per year: $10,279
- Gas cost per mile: $0.685
- Hybrid cost per year: $10,340
- Hybrid cost per mile: $0.689
Medium SUV
- Electric cost per year: $12,710
- Electric cost per mile: $0.847
- Gas cost per year: $12,584
- Gas cost per mile: $0.839
- Hybrid cost per year: $12,855
- Hybrid cost per mile: $0.857
Pickup Truck
- Electric cost per year: $16,758
- Electric cost per mile: $1.117
- Gas cost per year: $14,781
- Gas cost per mile: $0.985
- Hybrid cost per year: $14,636
- Hybrid cost per mile: $0.976
Why EVs Cost the Most To Drive
Across three out of the four model types analyzed, new electric vehicles cost more to drive in 2025 than new gas or hybrid cars.
“EV purchase prices tend to be higher than similar models of gas vehicles, which makes insurance, fees and financing costs higher,” said Austin Shivers, lead automotive engineer at AAA. “They also depreciate at a higher rate than gas vehicles overall, though depreciation can be very specific to a vehicle model. They do save in fuel and maintenance costs, but not enough to offset the other cost categories.”
However, he noted that EVs may become more affordable the longer they are driven.
“Our study assumes that a vehicle is purchased new, owned and driven for five years, and traded in,” Shivers said. “Many factors can change as the vehicle is owned for longer. For example, once the vehicle is paid off, finance costs no longer apply. Also, rate of depreciation tends to be lower for older vehicles.”
On the flip side, “in the case of EVs, there is also the potential that an aged battery will need to be replaced, which can cost thousands.”
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