Would I consider buying a hybrid or electric car …

Maybe and probably not, at least for now.

Riding down to New York City I was quite impressed by one of my colleague’s hybrid Toyota Camry — it was a big car, but very fuel efficient and quite comfortable. I am sure driving something like a hybrid would save a lot of money on my road trips, with much lower fuel bills and probably lower cost of maintenance. The lower costs could mean more and more distant road trips — although there are practical limits on how far one could travel in a day. The truth is 95% of the roads I drive on could easily handle a low-bottomed car like that, although I’d have to be careful getting in and out of campsites and driving on certain roads, especially in the shoulder season with mud and ice.

Electric cars are good for commuting, but I prefer to take the bus around town. Rather then buy an electric car, why not just not have a car at all? Having an electric car would still mean many weekends of renting a second car for the longer trips. There is a bigger and bigger network of electric car charging stations around the state, and while electric cars make sense for the commuter, they still make a lot less sense for the tourist due to the relatively long charging time.