Since the United States attacked Iran in February, the price of crude oil has risen more than 50 percent, resulting in a national average of $4.56 a gallon, according to AAA, the automotive and leisure travel membership organization. That’s $1.38 more than the price per gallon a year ago.
Travelers are feeling the crisis. In a new study from personal finance website WalletHub, 59 percent of Americans said high gas prices are affecting their travel plans, and more than half said they plan to spend less on travel this summer compared to last summer.
To achieve this, many resort to renting electric vehicles and sometimes electric hybrid vehicles. Since mid-April, Turo, a platform where car owners can rent their cars, has seen a 28 percent year-over-year increase in electric and hybrid bookings. Hertz said interest has also increased in recent months.
All-electric vehicles save money for owners who can charge at home. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates savings to average up to $2,200 per year.
However, the calculation changes if you rent an electric vehicle and pay commercial rates for a fee. Here’s how to do the math – both in money and time – and where to look for electric and hybrid vehicles.
Where to find alternative vehicles
Travelers can find electric vehicles at agencies across the country, with a greater concentration where charging infrastructure is stronger.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center, California is a leader in charging capacity availability and has nearly 65,000 public charging ports. New York has almost 20,000. Florida, Texas and Massachusetts all have more than 10,000.
Electric vehicles make up about 3 to 5 percent of the rental car fleet nationwide, according to the American Car Rental Association, a trade group.
Most hybrid vehicles do not require plugging in to charge and are widely available.
Charging is cheaper than gas
Like airfares, car rental prices change with demand—weekends are often more expensive than weekdays, for example—and prices vary depending on your destination.
However, electric vehicle prices generally mirror standard car prices, depending on where they fall on the spectrum from economy to luxury. Compared to a mid-range Ford Mustang Mach-E, a Tesla is priced like a premium car.
The bigger savings come from driving the electric vehicle. If a conventional car gets 25 miles per gallon, it would take 8 gallons of gas to drive 200 miles. At the national average for gas, this trip would cost $36.48.
In a compact electric vehicle like a Nissan Leaf with a 62-kilowatt-hour battery (which has a range of about 200 miles), charging would be $25.92, or $10.59, cheaper than refueling, with an average electricity price of $0.418 per kilowatt-hour, according to AAA.
Session fees may apply – most are between $0.25 and $2, according to EV sales site Recharged.
Hybrid benefits
Hybrids combine a conventional combustion engine and an electric motor. Instead of being connected to an energy source, the battery is powered by regenerative braking and engine usage.
This system ensures lower fuel consumption compared to vehicles with internal combustion engines. For example, the 2026 Honda Accord Hybrid averages an estimated 51 miles per gallon. By comparison, standard Accord models’ fuel economy ratings start at 28 miles per gallon.
For a 200-mile trip, a Kia Niro Hybrid, which Hertz rates at 40 miles per gallon, would cost $22.82 in gas. That’s $13.69 less than a conventional car and $3.10 less than the electric car
With hybrid vehicles, “you don’t have to change your behavior, you get better gas mileage and you don’t have to worry about range anxiety” or where you’re going to get your next charge, said Chris Luth, operations manager for AutoSlash, a service that rents cars and monitors bookings for price drops.
Hybrid vehicles cost more than economy cars and sometimes more than electric cars. In June, a Kia Niro Hybrid from Hertz at San Francisco International Airport cost $79 per day in a recent search, while an economy car cost $63 per day. No electric vehicles were listed.
On the same dates, daily prices 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 the average fuel price of $6.143 per gallon in California and the average charging fees of $0.467, a daily rental for a 200-mile trip from San Francisco with Avis would be $88.20 for the electric vehicle (with a range of 250 miles with the 64.8-kilowatt-hour battery) and 105.57 US dollars for the hybrid with 50 miles per gallon.
Overwhelming range anxiety
Have you switched back to an electric vehicle due to the higher cost of a hybrid vehicle? Now you have to deal with range anxiety.
According to Recharged, most new electric vehicles offer a range of 240 to 320 miles on a full charge.
How and where you drive can affect battery usage. Accelerating aggressively will drain the battery more quickly. This also applies to air conditioning and heating.
Driving in cold weather or on mountainous roads requires more energy. Additionally, electric vehicles are less efficient on long-distance trips than in city driving, so the battery may drain more quickly on a highway trip.
“One nice thing about driving up a hill is that after you climb the mountain, you go back down the other side and the car recovers that energy,” Mr. Luth said.
He once took his Tesla EV 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 chargers, like Wyoming.
“You have to be careful and charge a lot on highways or plan your route carefully,” Mr. Luth said.
Teslas have proprietary systems that plan routes and stops. Other EV drivers can use apps like A Better Routeplanner and PlugShare.
Charging’s time management hurdle
Charging an electric vehicle battery is nothing more than a five-minute fuel stop.
A lot depends on the charger. Most public charging stations offer slower AC Level 2 and DC fast charging. According to EV Connect, a provider of electric vehicle charging station management systems, Level 2 can take four to 10 hours to fully charge.
DC fast charging takes 20 to 60 minutes depending on the vehicle. (An electric vehicle charging calculator will tell you how long charging will take.)
Even when using the fastest chargers, battery charging not only slows down long-distance travel, but can also make it difficult to return to the agency.
Hotels are increasingly incorporating electric vehicle chargers, allowing for convenient overnight charging. However, if you need to travel some distance before returning the car, you may need to install a charging station.
Policies are not uniform, but most agencies require electric vehicle renters to return their cars with a fee of at least 70 percent. Fees apply if the vehicle is below the minimum value. Avis charges $35 if the car is 10 to 70 percent charged. Below 10 percent means another $35 fee.
“One of the biggest dangers is charging the battery before returning it,” Mr. Luth said, explaining that the charging speed slows as the battery gets stronger. It could quickly rise from 30 to 70 percent, he added. “If you are scheduled to return the car with a 75 percent charge and the nearest charger is 15 miles away, you may need to charge to 85 percent to reach 75 percent, which may take an additional 20 to 30 minutes.”
Hertz offers a $35 reload fee to take the car back at any charge level.
Turo allows renters to return vehicles for the same price as picking them up. If the shortfall is less than 10 percent, there is no penalty; If it is between 10 and 20 percent, the fee is $25.
Is an internal combustion engine cheaper?
In some cases, yes. If you get an alternative vehicle that’s priced close to an economy car, you’ll come out ahead. But the wide availability of standard cars at reasonable prices often outweighs the savings of renting an electric or hybrid vehicle, depending on how far and where you’re going.
In the California scenario, a 200-mile trip in a Kia Soul — which gets an estimated 30 miles per gallon and was listed on Avis for $36 a day — would cost about $40.95 in gas, for a total of $76.95, before taxes and fees. In terms of price, it beats the electric vehicle by $5.25 and the hybrid by $28.62.
A nicer model could make the difference. As they say in the car business, your mileage may vary.
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