Electric cars vs gas cars, hybrid vs electric — what kind of vehicle is right for you? See how one Texas homesteader answers this question after trying all three.
In the early part of the 20th century, New York City was filled with cars. Electric cars. To power the electric cars, there were charging stations. So many charging stations that maps could be purchased or obtained to find them.
According to the website for the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, “Americans still drove electric cars in the 1920s. The New York Edison Company’s Automobile Bureau published this booklet for electric-car owners. It included a map and address listings for local charging stations in New York City. Stations outside the immediate area, as far as Boston and Philadelphia, were also listed.”
Most people may be surprised to learn that electric cars aren’t a new idea. One hundred years ago, it was actually a close race in some areas as to which way Americans might go with vehicles — gas or electric.
Baker Electric made a vehicle that looked like a phone booth with wheels. It may not have looked like much, but it went about 100 miles per charge. That’s about the same distance the Nissan Leaf provided when it debuted in 2010.
Just as quickly as electric cars appeared, they disappeared. They were overtaken by Henry Ford’s assembly line and cheap oil and gas. The combustion engine and a network of filling stations met the country’s needs, so cars that ran on gas won the race to driving dominance.
Before the recent resurgence of electric vehicles, something in between made its debut. The hybrid. Hybrid vehicles became commercially viable in the early 2000s, with the Toyota Prius being one of the leading models available. A hybrid uses both a battery system and a combustion engine, which produces amazing fuel efficiency and reliability.
So, with hybrid, electric, and gas cars and other vehicles available, which one makes the most sense to drive? Since I own one of each, I’ve learned that it depends on what meets your needs.
My first car was a ’66 Ford Mustang. Under the hood was a 200-cubic-inch six-cylinder engine. The transmission was standard, and there was no AC. The car was reliable and fairly fuel-efficient for the time (about 20 mpg).
My wants would’ve included air conditioning and a plush interior. But being a teenager and attending school while working as a grocery sacker, needs were what I could afford.
Today, my wife and I own all three types of vehicle — a gasoline-powered, four-wheel-drive (4WD) pickup; a hybrid Toyota Prius; and a fully electric Nissan Leaf.
Why? Because we live on a 10-acre homestead some distance from many of our destinations. Depending where we’re going, one of the three vehicles is best suited for our trip. Even though each of the vehicles has a purpose, when comparing hybrid vs electric vs gas each has pros and cons.
Gas-Powered 4WD
If you live in the country, you likely already know the importance of a vehicle with a powerful towing capacity. Tractors and other farm equipment need periodic service and repair, and that requires a trailer to haul them, which requires a vehicle big enough to pull them. Our Ford F-150 4WD pulls heavy equipment and easily reaches locations on the hilly terrain on our property. The truck also has a large bed, which frequently reduces trips to town to one load, saving time and fuel.
A large truck is reliable for getting through rough terrain to reach distressed animals, carrying materials, or moving hay bales from pasture to hungry cattle.
When it rains, a big truck with a strong motor offers traction — something a hybrid or electric car just can’t provide.
But big trucks carry large price tags and repair bills. With some pickups now reaching over $100,000, price is a big consideration, and repairs aren’t cheap. Of course, a large vehicle is going to cost more to operate, but if you use a truck for your needs and not as a daily driver, you’ll have less wear and tear, lower fuel costs, and, theoretically, a longer vehicle life.
This is where a hybrid can complement owning a pickup. My wife and I were early adopters of both hybrid technology and electric vehicles. Our reasons for owning each were similar but, pardon the pun, fueled by different factors.
Hybrid Car
The Toyota Prius debuted in the U.S. in 2001. We purchased our first Prius (we’re now on our fourth) in 2007 when I was working for a company that required me to travel using my own vehicle. I was reimbursed for mileage, but the reimbursement never seemed enough to cover the cost of fuel, much less the maintenance on our gas-powered vehicle.
With the Prius averaging 50 mpg, which was about 30 mpg better than the vehicle we traded in for it, we actually began making money on mileage. It was as if we were renting our car and its driver to my employer. The fact that a Prius is extremely reliable made the savings even more evident.
Purchasing a hybrid also complemented owning our pickup. We had a truck when we needed it and an amazingly fuel-efficient car for both work and personal use. Until 2015, we had a gasoline truck and a hybrid car. That was the year after we made a major change on our homestead that put electric cars front and center for us.
Electric Car
In 2014, after becoming tired of unreliable electricity, we decided to install solar power. The two-phase project was done over 24 months to take advantage of the then-government tax incentives and stretch out the cost of paying for the installation.
Our goal was to make as much of our own power as possible. Not more than we needed, but what we needed. We didn’t want to go off-grid (too expensive), so we stayed tied to the electrical co-op that serves our area.
We found, after completing the project, that we had plenty of power. Since our provider doesn’t pay us for the extra we make, we began to look for other uses for that power.
This was when an all-electric vehicle came into the picture. On a trip through Oklahoma, we saw a sign at a Nissan dealership that said it now offered electric vehicles. My wife looked up the Nissan Leaf (Tesla was around but was not the force in the industry that it is today), and we discussed the possibility of an electric car for the next several hours.
At the time, the average cost of charging an electric vehicle at home was a fraction of what it cost to fuel a hybrid. Our solar panels were already making the fuel an electric car needed. The same government tax rebates that were offered for solar were also being offered to buy an electric vehicle.
So, we purchased an electric car to go with our hybrid and truck.
Our Nissan Leaf has a range of 100 miles on a charge (newer electric vehicles have up to three times more range), which is more than we need to get to work, church, the grocery store, or other regular destinations.
Comparing Costs: Hybrid vs Electric vs Gas
Gas: Ford F-150 4WD Truck*
- Fuel: $468
- Maintenance: $312 (oil and filter changes)
Hybrid: Toyota Prius
- Fuel: $244
- Maintenance: $202 (oil and filter changes)
Electric: Nissan Leaf*
- Fuel: $0
- Maintenance: $0
*Minimal usage of our truck, mainly on our homestead with occasional trips into town
**If we paid for our electricity, the average monthly cost at our current rate of 11 cents per kilowatt-hour would be $19 per month. The last maintenance we had was the small battery under the hood that all cars have, which cost $136 in 2019.
Hybrid vs Electric vs Gas on the Homestead
As far as comparing maintenance costs for electric cars vs gas cars, the electric car we own has zero regular maintenance. Since there’s no oil to change or filters of any kind to replace, electric cars are virtually maintenance-free. When you consider the cost of oil changes, filters, various pumps, timing belts, and other mechanical parts (which eventually fail), not having these expenses quickly adds up.
Our truck and Prius do require oil changes and other maintenance, but since we primarily drive the electric car, those service needs are few and far between. We take the hybrid on longer trips, and drive the truck mainly around the homestead and into town and back. Because we combine the use of the three, we buy gasoline about every 4 to 5 weeks.
The savings on fuel allow us to afford the insurance, but with our primary vehicle being all-electric, what we’re reducing most is our carbon footprint.
Owning a hybrid, electric, and gas vehicle isn’t for everyone, but it has been quite strategic on our homestead. One day, I believe most of our vehicles will be electric. But until then, at least for us, three isn’t a crowd.
John Moore is a writer and syndicated newspaper columnist. He and his wife, Terry, live on a 10-acre homestead in East Texas, where they grow much of their food and operate a small hay business. John can be reached through his website, The Country Writer.
Originally published as “What Drives Us: Electric, Hybrid, or Gasoline?” in the August/September 2023 issue of MOTHER EARTH NEWS magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.
