If you only drive 5000 miles a year you should not think about fuel costs but about how much maintenance the car needs. Replacing the timing belt, e.g., will cost more than a couple months of gasoline. For me the question is whether the all-electric vehicles have less of those expenses, since they don't have a muffler, timing belt, spark plugs, starter, or a lot of other things that a gasoline powered car either fails occasionally or needs to be replaced on a regular basis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:100 miles a week sounds like a lot to me -- we drive about half as much and are definitely planning on a hybrid for our next car.

5200 miles a year is not a lot. The hybrid battery is much worse for the environment than driving a gas engine 100 miles a week.

keep believing the hype. yes from birth until it reaches the showroom floor batteries are much worse for the environment than a comparable fossil fueled vehicle. But cradle to grave fossil fueled vehicles are much worse for the environment than a hybrid or all electric.

Go all electric. Chevy Bolt's are 30k-ish

https://www.koonschevybuickgmc.com/new-inventory/index.htm?model=Bolt%20EV

200+ mile range, so you can charge it once every 2 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:Just do the math. 5000 miles with 20 mpg SUV vs 45 mpg hybrid is $750 vs $333 assuming $3 gas. Lifetime savings of $4167 assuming you will keep the car for 10 years. So if equivalent SUV is $4000 cheaper then it is a wash. Some hybrids might give you some tax rebate or whatever and make you feel better for polluting less.

And assuming maintenance and resale are the same, which they are likely not. But the question was more about environmental impact.

Anonymous wrote:100 miles a week sounds like a lot to me -- we drive about half as much and are definitely planning on a hybrid for our next car.

5200 miles a year is not a lot. The hybrid battery is much worse for the environment than driving a gas engine 100 miles a week.

Just do the math. 5000 miles with 20 mpg SUV vs 45 mpg hybrid is $750 vs $333 assuming $3 gas. Lifetime savings of $4167 assuming you will keep the car for 10 years. So if equivalent SUV is $4000 cheaper then it is a wash. Some hybrids might give you some tax rebate or whatever and make you feel better for polluting less.

If you drive that few miles a year, you should buy the car and it will last the rest of your life. Leasing a car and driving it 5k miles a year is basically throwing money at the dealership and bank. You're paying for the car's depreciation and causing almost no loss in value.

get a hybrid.... im doing 40 miles a day (commute) and my hybrid i'm only filling up the tank every 500-600 miles

Wouldn’t the environmentally friendly option be to keep the car you have instead of purchasing a new one?

And to give you a comparison, I drove 145 miles yesterday and 167 miles today.


How old are your kids, OP? Do they play sports? The numbers above are my weekend mileage shuttling everyone to sports. Now our usual carpool partners were out of town and it isn't always that high, but don't underestimate your mileage as the kids age! (We have two in elementary and one in middle school.)

No, I wouldn't.

For reference, 100 miles a week is 5000 miles a year. Most leases and insurance companies assume 10k-12k.

This thread just made me realize I drive 60 miles per week! And that's strictly for the kids' school and activities, DH commutes by bike and I walk.
I didn't think it would be that much.

To answer your question, OP, I was listening to an "expert" on NPR who said that the market would only be ready for electric cars when retail prices fell to the gas-powered level. Then everyone would buy an electric or hybrid, just to choose the most sustainable option for the same price. He said it would take at least 5 more years.

100 miles a week sounds like a lot to me -- we drive about half as much and are definitely planning on a hybrid for our next car.

My lease is up at the end of the summer and I’m thinking about my next car. I’ve been driving an Audi A4 - about 20-25 mpg. I currently fill my tank about every 2 weeks. I have been trying to be more environmentally conscious in the last few years and am thinking about a hybrid, but with as little as I drive I’m not sure it’s worth the up-spend. Like, I wonder if I should stay with a gas engine and spend the $ on something else, e.g., to increase the energy efficiency of my home or something. Anyone done an analysis on this?