Since the United States attacked Iran in February, the price of crude oil has shot up by more than 50 percent, causing gas prices to surge to a national average of $4.56 a gallon, according to AAA, the driving and leisure travel membership organization. That’s $1.38 above the price per gallon a year ago.
Travelers are feeling the pinch. In a new study from the personal finance website WalletHub, 59 percent of Americans said high gas prices were affecting their travel plans, and more than half said they planned to spend less on travel this summer compared with last.
Fully electric vehicles save money for owners who can charge at home. The U.S. Department of Energy puts the savings at up to $2,200 a year on average.
But the calculation changes when you rent an E.V. and pay commercial rates for a charge. Here is how to do the math — both in money and in time — and where to look for E.V.s and hybrids.
Where to Find Alternative Vehicles
Travelers can find E.V.s at agencies across the country, with a heavier concentration where the charging infrastructure is stronger.
Leading in charge availability, California has nearly 65,000 public charging ports, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center at the U.S. Department of Energy. New York has nearly 20,000. Florida, Texas and Massachusetts all have more than 10,000.
E.V.s account for roughly 3 to 5 percent of the rental car fleet nationally, according to the American Car Rental Association, a trade group.
Most hybrid rentals do not require users to plug in to charge and are widely available.
Charging Is Cheaper Than Gas
Like airfares, car rental prices shift with demand — weekends are often more expensive than weekdays, for example — and rates vary by destination.
That said, E.V. prices generally mirror standard cars depending on where they fall on the economy-to-luxury spectrum. A Tesla is priced like a premium car compared with a midrange Ford Mustang Mach-E.
The bigger savings is in powering the electric vehicle. If a traditional car gets 25 miles per gallon, a 200-mile trip requires eight gallons of gas. At the national average for gas, that trip would cost $36.48.
In a compact E.V. like a Nissan Leaf with a 62-kilowatt-hour battery (which has about a 200-mile range), charging up at the average electric rate of $0.418 per kilowatt-hour, according to AAA, would be $25.92, or $10.59 cheaper than fueling up.
Session fees may be assessed — most range from $0.25 to $2, according to the E.V. sales site Recharged.
Hybrid Advantages
Hybrids combine a traditional combustion engine and an electric motor. Rather than plugging into an energy source, the battery is powered by regenerative braking and engine use.
This system delivers better fuel economy over combustion engine cars. For example, the 2026 Honda Accord hybrid gets an estimated 51 miles per gallon on average. By comparison, standard Accord models’ fuel economy ratings start at 28 miles per gallon.
In the 200-mile trip scenario, a Kia Niro Hybrid that Hertz lists with 40 miles per gallon would cost $22.82 in gas. That’s $13.69 cheaper than a traditional car and $3.10 less than the E.V.
With hybrids, “You don’t have to alter your behavior, you’re getting the benefit of better gas mileage, and you don’t have to worry about range anxiety,” or where to get your next charge, said Chris Luth, the director of operations for AutoSlash, a service that rents cars and monitors bookings for price drops.
Hybrids cost more than economy cars and sometimes more than E.V.s. At San Francisco International Airport in June, a Kia Niro Hybrid from Hertz was $79 a day in a recent search, while an economy car was $63 a day. No E.V.s were listed.
Over the same dates, daily rates at Avis included a compact Kia Soul for $36, an electric Kia Niro for $58 and a hybrid Toyota Prius for $81.
Excluding taxes and fees and using California’s fuel average price of $6.143 per gallon and its average charging rates of $0.467, a one-day rental for a 200-mile trip from San Francisco with Avis would total $88.20 for the E.V. (assuming a 250-mile range on the 64.8-kilowatt-hour battery) and $105.57 for the hybrid getting 50 m.p.h.
Crushing Range Anxiety
Did the higher cost of a hybrid spin you back to an E.V.? Now you’ve got to deal with range anxiety.
Most new E.V.s offer 240 to 320 miles on a full charge, according to Recharged.
How and where you drive can affect battery use. Aggressively accelerating will deplete a battery quicker. So can air-conditioning and heat.
Driving in cold weather or on mountainous roads requires more energy. E.V.s are also less efficient at long-distance driving compared with city driving, so you might deplete the battery quicker on a freeway trip.
“One nice thing about mountain driving is that after you climb the mountain, you go down the other side and the car recaptures that energy,” Mr. Luth said.
He once took his Tesla E.V. on a 10,000-mile road trip from Missouri to the Pacific Northwest and back through areas with lots of chargers, including California, and those with few, such as Wyoming.
“You have to be careful and charge up a lot at interstates or plan your route carefully,” Mr. Luth said.
Teslas have proprietary systems that plan routes and stops. Other E.V. drivers can use apps such as A Better Routeplanner and PlugShare.
Charging’s Time Management Hurdle
Charging an E.V. battery is nothing like a five-minute gas stop.
Much depends on the charger. Most public charging stations offer slower AC Level 2 and DC Fast charging. Level 2 can take four to 10 hours to fully charge, according to EV Connect, which provides E.V. charging station management systems.
DC Fast charging takes 20 to 60 minutes, depending on the vehicle. (An E.V. charging calculator will tell you how much time a charge will take.)
Even using the fastest chargers, replenishing the battery not only slows down long-distance travel, but it can impede returns to the agency.
Hotels are increasingly adding E.V. chargers, allowing convenient overnight charging, but if you have to drive some distance before returning the car, you may need to build in a charge stop.
Policies are not standard, but most agencies require E.V. renters to return their cars with at least a 70 percent charge. Fees kick in if the vehicle is below the minimum. Avis charges $35 if the car is between 10 and 70 percent charged. Below 10 percent means another $35 fee.
“One of the biggest pitfalls is dealing with charging before returning,” Mr. Luth said, explaining that the rate of recharge slows as the battery gains strength. It might go quickly from 30 to 70 percent, he added. “If you’re supposed to return the car with 75 percent charge and the nearest charger is 15 miles away, you might have to charge to 85 percent to arrive at 75 percent, which could take an extra 20 to 30 minutes.”
Hertz offers a $35 recharge fee to take the car back at any charge level.
Turo allows renters to return vehicles with the same charge they had at pickup. If the shortfall is less than 10 percent, there’s no penalty; if it’s between 10 and 20 percent, the fee is $25.
Is a Combustion Engine Cheaper?
In some cases, yes. If you can get an alternative vehicle priced close to an economy car, you’ll come out ahead. But the wide availability of standard cars at low rates often outweighs the savings from renting an E.V. or a hybrid, depending on how far and where you’re going.
In the California scenario, putting 200 miles on a Kia Soul — which gets an estimated 30 miles per gallon and was listed at $36 a day at Avis — would cost roughly $40.95 in gas for a total of $76.95, before taxes and fees. On price, it edges out the E.V. by $5.25 and beats the hybrid by $28.62.
A nicer model might tip the equation. As they say in the car business, your mileage may vary.
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