Hybrid, gas or electric? Which car is cheapest to own in 2026, according to AAA

AAA puts the average yearly cost of owning a car at $12,863 in its 2026 Your Driving Costs study. That works out to $1,071.92 a month. The 2025 edition of the study put the yearly average at $11,577. The difference is $1,286, an increase of about 11.1%.

The 2026 study adds something earlier editions did not. It is the first to include electric vehicles and hybrids. That allows a side-by-side comparison of three fuel types. Readers trying to estimate the cost of owning a car in 2026 can now see how electric, gas and hybrid models stack up within the same vehicle class.

The comparison rests on fuel-price assumptions. AAA built its estimate on regular gas at $4.152 per gallon and electricity at $0.18 per kilowatt-hour. AAA noted that gas prices rose 31.8% over the prior year. Electricity prices rose 7.8%.

The study breaks results out for four classes: medium sedans, compact SUVs, medium SUVs and pickup trucks. Each is measured in cost per mile for a driver covering 15,000 miles a year. Cost per mile is the total yearly cost divided by the miles driven. Multiplying it back out by 15,000 gives a yearly dollar figure for each fuel type in each class.

The results do not line up behind one fuel type on every measure. Charging an EV cost up to 70% less than fueling with gas. That left EVs slightly cheaper on fuel alone. EVs also lose value faster than gas models. Hybrids posted the lowest cost per mile in all four classes. In the medium SUV class, the EV came in below the gas model per mile. In the other three classes, gas cost less per mile than electric.

The 10 findings below are a selection from AAA's study. They cover the headline average, the year-over-year increase, the fuel-price assumptions and each of the four vehicle classes. They also cover the tradeoff between depreciation and charging costs, the hybrid result and the factors to weigh before choosing a vehicle type.

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The average owner pays $12,863 a year to own a car in 2026, according to AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study. Paid monthly, that comes to $1,071.92.

Kelley Blue Book reported the study's results in September 2026.

The monthly figure puts car ownership on the same footing as rent, utilities and other recurring household bills. A five-figure annual total becomes an amount that fits inside a monthly budget.

The $12,863 figure is a single average. It does not show what any particular driver will pay. For that, AAA published separate cost-per-mile results for individual vehicle classes and fuel types.

Those results spread across a wide range. Among the four classes AAA broke out, per-mile costs ran from $0.680 for a hybrid medium sedan to $1.161 for an electric pickup truck.

Where a given owner lands depends on the kind of vehicle and what powers it. The headline average is a starting point, not a forecast for one household.

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Owning a car cost $1,286 more in 2026 than in 2025. AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study puts the average yearly cost at $12,863, up from $11,577 in the 2025 edition.

AAA did not publish the $1,286 gap as its own figure. It is the 2025 average subtracted from the 2026 average. Measured against the 2025 baseline, that works out to a rise of about 11.1% in one year.

The increase also shows up in monthly terms. AAA puts the 2026 average at $1,071.92 a month. The 2025 average of $11,577, divided by 12, comes to about $964.75 a month. That makes the monthly cost roughly $107 higher than a year earlier.

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AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study priced regular gasoline at $4.152 per gallon and electricity at $0.18 per kilowatt-hour. Those two prices set the fuel portion of the per-mile costs the study reports for electric, gas and hybrid vehicles.

Both forms of energy got more expensive over the prior year. AAA noted that gas prices rose 31.8%.

Electricity rose by far less. AAA put that increase at 7.8%.

The gas increase was roughly four times the size of the electricity increase. The gap between the two is 24 percentage points.

This is also the first edition of the study to include EVs and hybrids alongside gas models. The two price changes now apply to different fuel types within the same vehicle classes.

Each price feeds into a different kind of vehicle. Gas and hybrid models run on gasoline, and the $4.152 figure shapes their fuel costs. EVs draw power from the grid. The $0.18 per kilowatt-hour figure shapes theirs.

At these prices, charging an EV cost up to 70% less than fueling with gas. That left EVs slightly cheaper than gas models on fuel alone.

Fuel is only one part of the total. Even with the charging advantage, the EV did not post the lowest per-mile ownership cost in any of the four vehicle classes AAA compared. Hybrids held that position in every class.

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A hybrid was the cheapest medium sedan to own in AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study, at $0.680 per mile. The gas medium sedan cost $0.705 per mile. The electric medium sedan cost $0.911 per mile.

Multiplied out to 15,000 miles a year, those rates come to about $10,200 for the hybrid, $10,575 for the gas model and $13,665 for the electric model. AAA published the per-mile rates, not these yearly totals.

The hybrid and gas sedans sit close together. The hybrid costs 2.5 cents less per mile, or about $375 a year at 15,000 miles. That is the smallest hybrid-over-gas advantage in any of the study's four vehicle classes.

The electric sedan sits far from the other two. Its cost per mile is 20.6 cents higher than the gas sedan's. That works out to about $3,090 more per year at 15,000 miles. Against the hybrid, the difference grows to about $3,465 a year.

No other class in the study shows an electric-versus-gas gap that wide. In each of the other three classes, it stays under $800 a year at 15,000 miles.

The sedan results also stand out across the whole table. The hybrid and gas medium sedans have the two lowest per-mile costs of any class and fuel-type pairing in AAA's comparison. The electric medium sedan costs more per mile than all three compact SUVs, including the electric compact SUV.

That split makes the medium sedan the class where the choice of fuel type moves the yearly cost the most.

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A hybrid compact SUV costs $0.747 per mile to own, the lowest of the three fuel types in the class, according to AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study. The gas version comes in at $0.777 per mile, and the electric version at $0.793.

At 15,000 miles a year, those rates work out to about $11,205 for the hybrid, $11,655 for the gas model and $11,895 for the EV. These yearly totals are calculations from AAA's per-mile figures. AAA did not publish them as totals.

The order matches the pattern in medium sedans and pickup trucks. The hybrid costs the least, the gas model sits in the middle and the EV costs the most. In medium SUVs, by contrast, gas costs the most.

The gaps between the three are narrow. The hybrid undercuts the gas model by three cents a mile. At 15,000 miles, that comes to about $450 a year.

The electric compact SUV costs 1.6 cents more per mile than the gas version. Over the same distance, the difference is about $240 a year.

That EV premium is the smallest of the three classes in AAA's study where gas cost less per mile than electric. In medium sedans, the gap is 20.6 cents a mile. In pickup trucks, it is 5.3 cents.

The compact SUV also has the lowest electric per-mile figure of the four classes in the study. Electric medium sedans, medium SUVs and pickups all cost more per mile to own.

The full spread from the cheapest compact SUV to the most expensive is 4.6 cents per mile. That works out to roughly $690 a year at 15,000 miles. That is the narrowest spread among the four classes in the study.

The per-mile figures reported for compact SUVs do not break out fuel, depreciation, insurance or maintenance costs. The cause of each gap in this class cannot be isolated from those numbers alone.

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In AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study, an electric medium SUV cost $0.955 per mile to own at 15,000 miles a year. That is slightly less than the $0.962 per mile for a gas model. A hybrid medium SUV had the lowest figure at $0.913 per mile.

The EV's edge over gas is narrow. It works out to $0.007 per mile. Over 15,000 miles, that comes to $105 a year. No other class in the study shows a smaller gap between its electric and gas models.

At 15,000 miles, those per-mile rates put the yearly cost at $14,325 for the electric medium SUV, $14,430 for the gas model and $13,695 for the hybrid. These are calculations, not totals AAA published.

The order of finish sets this class apart. Hybrid comes first, electric second and gas last. That makes the medium SUV the one class in the study where the gas model ranks behind both alternatives on cost per mile.

The hybrid's lead is wider than the EV's. It costs $0.049 per mile less than the gas model, or $735 a year at 15,000 miles. It also undercuts the electric version by $0.042 per mile, or $630 a year. With the EV sitting below gas here, the hybrid's margin over the electric model is the smaller of its two leads.

That $0.049 gap between hybrid and gas is also the full spread across all three fuel types in the class. The cheapest and most expensive medium SUVs are separated by less than a nickel per mile.

Medium SUVs sit in the middle of the study's cost range. Every medium SUV figure, from $0.913 to $0.962 per mile, is higher than any per-mile cost in the study for medium sedans or compact SUVs. Each one is also lower than any per-mile cost in the study for pickup trucks.

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Hybrid pickup trucks had the lowest ownership cost in their class in AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study, at $1.074 per mile. Gas pickups came in at $1.108 per mile. Electric pickups cost the most, at $1.161 per mile.

At 15,000 miles a year, those rates work out to about $16,110 for a hybrid pickup, $16,620 for a gas pickup and $17,415 for an electric pickup. These yearly totals are calculations from AAA's per-mile figures, not amounts AAA published.

The electric pickup costs about $795 a year more than the gas version at that mileage. That is roughly 4.8% more. The hybrid pickup runs about $510 a year below the gas model. That is a difference of roughly 3.1%.

The widest gap in the class sits between the electric and hybrid versions. It comes to about $1,305 a year.

In the pickup class, the choice of fuel type moves yearly cost by hundreds of dollars between gas and either alternative. The electric pickup's premium over gas is far narrower than the gap in the medium sedan class.

The order of the three fuel types matches the pattern in medium sedans and compact SUVs. Hybrid ranks first, gas second and electric third. Only the medium SUV class breaks that order.

Pickups were the most expensive of the four vehicle classes in AAA's comparison for every fuel type. Even the hybrid pickup, at $1.074 per mile, cost more per mile than any medium sedan, compact SUV or medium SUV in the study. The highest figure outside the pickup class was the gas medium SUV, at $0.962 per mile.

Across AAA's figures, the gap between vehicle classes is wider than the gap between fuel types within the pickup class.

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Electric vehicles cost less to fuel than gas models in AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study. Even so, they cost more per mile to own than gas models in three of the four vehicle classes AAA compared.

Charging is where EVs have the edge. Kelley Blue Book's report on the study says charging cost up to 70% less than gas. By that report's account, the savings made EVs slightly cheaper than gas models on fuel alone.

Depreciation is the offsetting cost. Kelley Blue Book reports that EVs lose value faster than gas models. The report points to that faster loss of value as the reason EVs cost more to own. Lost resale value counts toward the cost of owning a car, even though it never appears at the pump or the charger.

EVs held a small lead on fuel. That means the higher ownership cost in the classes where EVs trailed gas came from costs other than fuel. A comparison based on fuel alone would have missed that gap.

The size of the tradeoff varied by class. A medium sedan EV cost $0.911 per mile, compared with $0.705 for the gas model. That is a difference of 20.6 cents a mile. At 15,000 miles a year, it works out to $3,090. No other class in the study showed a gap that large.

The gaps in the other classes were much smaller. A compact SUV EV cost 1.6 cents more per mile than its gas counterpart. That comes to $240 a year at 15,000 miles. For pickup trucks, the EV cost 5.3 cents more per mile, or $795 a year.

Medium SUVs went the other way. The electric version cost $0.955 per mile, just under the $0.962 for gas. The difference is seven-tenths of a cent per mile, or $105 a year at 15,000 miles.

These yearly gaps are calculated from AAA's per-mile figures at 15,000 miles. They are not totals that AAA published.

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Hybrids had the lowest cost per mile of any fuel type in every vehicle class in AAA's 2026 Your Driving Costs study. That result held for medium sedans, compact SUVs, medium SUVs and pickup trucks.

AAA summed up the hybrid result in its own words. Hybrids "combined meaningful fuel savings with smaller ownership-cost tradeoffs, costing less annually than gas-powered models in medium sedans, compact SUVs, medium SUVs, and pickup trucks."

The per-mile figures show that pattern class by class. At 15,000 miles a year, a hybrid medium sedan cost $0.680 per mile. The gas version cost $0.705. A hybrid compact SUV came in at $0.747 per mile, compared with $0.777 for gas.

The hybrid's per-mile edge over gas was widest among medium SUVs. The hybrid cost $0.913 per mile, while the gas model cost $0.962. In pickup trucks, the hybrid figure was $1.074 per mile, against $1.108 for gas.

At 15,000 miles a year, those per-mile gaps add up. The hybrid comes out $375 a year cheaper than gas in a medium sedan and $450 cheaper in a compact SUV. The difference is $735 in a medium SUV and $510 in a pickup. These yearly amounts are calculations from AAA's per-mile figures, not totals AAA published.

Hybrids also cost less per mile than electric models in all four classes. The largest gap was in medium sedans, where the hybrid's $0.680 per mile compared with $0.911 for the EV. At 15,000 miles, that gap works out to $3,465 a year. The same calculation puts the hybrid's yearly edge over the EV at $690 for compact SUVs, $630 for medium SUVs and $1,305 for pickups.

The 2026 edition is the first Your Driving Costs study to include hybrids. That means AAA has no earlier hybrid figures from the study to compare these results against.