The interplay between gasoline prices, electric vehicle purchases, and economic sentiment is what’s on my mind this morning. People seem to be feeling better about the economy overall, which is good for car sales, though it appears to at least partially be attributable to lower gas prices. Does that make sense?
It’s going to be one of those Morning Dumps where I’m going to try to lump some news together, and we’ll see if it produces one coherent idea of how the world works by the end of this. No promises that it will. I’ll start with some data about economic sentiment and the price of gas.
We’ll then shift to Toyota and GM. They’re two of the world’s largest automakers, and they both made different bets when it came to the timing of electrification. Now Toyota is shifting its timeline and GM is defending its position. You’d rather be Toyota now, but will that change? As the Guardians found out last night, it’s not over until you get at least 27 outs.
And, finally, Lucid is one of the EV manufacturers that saw huge sales increases. But at what cost?
Gas Prices Down, Vibes Up
I was listening to the Cox Automotive/Manheim Q3 update presentation in the car yesterday, as one does, and something struck me as interesting. You can see the presentation here if you’re not interested in listening to the velvet-tongued Cox economist Jonathan Smoke rap statistics about the current economic conditions weighing down car sales.
Here’s what caught my attention enough to pull over and pull up the chart:
You don’t need a degree in Statistics to understand that the two things appear to be negatively correlated to some degree. The degree in Statistics, however, might cause you to ask questions about whether or not these are actually correlated or maybe just cofactors. Any readers out there so inclined are invited to do a linear regression between gas price and Morning Consult Index to determine “r” so they can tell the rest of us.
I’ll just say that this makes more than a little bit of sense to me, as gasoline is one of the commodities we most often interact with, and the one that typically has the most variability (although eggs are giving gas a run for its money). This correlation is interesting because lower gas prices are not necessarily a good sign. High gas prices can be an indicator of economic growth or they can be a drag on economic growth. Low gas prices can be a sign of low economic activity that has depressed demand or they can be a sign of increased production. A paper from Georgia Tech on the relationship between GDP and gas prices basically determined that there is some interplay, but it’s not likely causal because there are too many other factors:
Through our research, we are able to conclude that there is a positive relationship between gas price and GDP per capita. Economically, this means that countries with higher gas prices, on average, also have a higher GDP. However, we do not believe this is a casual relationship. Rather, we are able to conclude, based on the available literature and our ability to reject our original hypothesis, that countries with higher GDP per capitas also have infrastructure that keeps gas prices high, such as government subsidies or taxes. This relationship appears to be stronger than the adverse effect that lower consumption would have on GDP per capita.
Shrug emoji.
It doesn’t really matter, because how you feel about the economy is extremely important to how well the economy operates, as people who feel good about the future tend to spend more money, therefore theoretically making the economy perform better.
Why are gas prices down right now? OPEC has tried to limit oil production to keep costs high, and it basically hasn’t worked because America has become an enormous producer of petroleum products. It’s funny that President Biden has essentially embraced ‘Drill, Baby Drill’ and been enormously successful at increasing America’s energy independence but can’t brag about it because environmentalists will get mad. Plus, with all the hybrid and electric vehicle sales, as well as general efficiency gains across ICE-powered vehicles, America has also probably reached peak gasoline consumption already. That doesn’t hurt.
Does politics play into this? Yeah, of course it does. In its Q3 wrap-up, CarGurus points out that the election may be keeping people out of dealerships.
Does a presidential election impact vehicle sales? CarGurus analyzed vehicle sales from 2002 onward, after December seasonality settled into its current trend, and excluded select years where sales were abnormally impacted: 2005 (GM’s employee pricing for all), 2008-2009 (Great Recession), and 2020-2021 (COVID). When comparing the seasonality of non-presidential years to presidential years, sales progress normally through July. However, presidential election years feature a decline in sales demand in August, October, and November. The slight overperformance in September for election year sales appears due to the depressive impact on sales in the surrounding months.
If gas prices stay low and the election actually ends in November (no promises) then I do think we might see a boom in car purchases, assuming nothing else strange happens.
Toyota Delaying More EVs In The United States
The decision to focus on hybrids in the short term has led to huge profit growth for Toyota, though even Toyota assumes that electrification will become more widespread in the United States. The expectation was that this changeover would be happening now. It’s not, or at least it’s not happening fast enough to match all the production plans that automakers like Toyota have made.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, plans for an electric three-row SUV that the automaker was planning to build in Kentucky are being delayed:
The Japanese carmaker initially targeted late next year to begin output of a three-row, battery-powered SUV at an assembly plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, but a company spokesman said Wednesday that has slipped by a few months into the following year.
Toyota is still committed to making the as-yet-unnamed SUV in Kentucky from early 2026 and another unspecified all-electric SUV at a factory in Princeton, Indiana, starting later that year, he said.
This makes sense since, as CarGurus put it in the report linked above, it’s hybrids that are having the year that everyone thought EVs would have.
GM Tries To Make Investors Feel Better About EVs
General Motors has a lot of electric cars for sale and continues to push in that direction. At the same time, GM is conspicuously short on the hybrids that are driving sales growth this year. After years of hyping GM’s lead in electric cars, it sounds like CEO Mary Barra will reportedly take a less enthusiastic tone in her Q3 call with investors:
The slower-than-anticipated EV transition has caused many automakers to adjust plans, including GM and cross-town rival Ford, and GM’s messaging on Tuesday is expected to focus less on aggressive growth and more on stability.
That will contrast with years past as GM set ambitious targets to rival Tesla, including in 2021 when Barra said GM would double revenue to about $280 billion by 2030.
While EV demand has lagged since Barra set that lofty goal, executives are expected to assure investors that profits on battery-powered models are closer than they think and the introduction of eight refreshed ICE models between now and the end of 2025 leaves room for improvement of profit margins.
This was the year that GM’s electric vehicles were supposed to be profitable, but I’ve got a sense that it might not be this quarter.
Lucid Sales Up 91%
American electric automaker Lucid has stubbornly held on as rivals like Fisker have failed and VinFast have faltered. It probably doesn’t hurt that the Lucid Air is a better electric luxury sedan than just about anything else you can buy. All of that excellence came at a price that was too high for most, and the Lucid struggled early on to find customers.
Sales have been up for three quarters, with the company reporting deliveries of 2,781 vehicles, up 91% from Q3 of last year. Production also increased, though buy only 16%.
How did Lucid pull this off? As Automotive News explains:
Factory incentives on the large Air sedan increased 28 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier to $19,403 per vehicle, according to Motor Intelligence. The Air has a starting price of $71,400 with shipping.
A key competitor vehicle, the Mercedes-Benz EQS sedan, had similar third-quarter incentives at $21,990 per vehicle, according to Motor Intelligence. The EQS starts at $105,550 with shipping.
Some of the incentive money comes indirectly through EV leasing, which allows finance companies to claim the $7,500 federal EV tax credit and pass some or all of it on to consumers. But automakers and their finance arms are not obligated to do so.
It’s probably worth mentioning that Lucid earned $201 million dollars in Q1 for a net loss of $790 million. There but for the grace of the Saudi Public Investment Fund…
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Our old colleague Rob has a great podcast over at The Ringer about ’90s music called “60 Songs that Explain The ’90s.” That podcast turned into 120 songs and now it’s about the ’00s. Confused? Don’t be. The first song in this new, aughts edition (sorry, not sorry) is “Mr. Brightside,” which has been described as “Don’t Stop Believing” for Millennials. IDK, I kind of prefer the original video.
The Big Question
Do gas prices impact your mood?
Top photo: depositphotos.com
Of course gasoline prices. I just bought my EV a month ago.
I am not down on myself, we are talking a few dollars per week. I drive on average 425 miles per week, my wife was doing similar miles for the last 3 years but now will be down to about 10k miles for the year in the 3 row 87 guzzler Atlas. My every 4-5 day gasoline bill went from roughly $100 to about $30 since I am only filling her car now. I haven’t run the numbers fully for the Tesla but I suspect I will be around $35 for the week, worse in the colder weather to come. With my electricity prices at $0.29 kwh, I knew I would be basically breaking even from my Sonata N Line (28-29 mpgs real world using 87 octane) vs the Model Y Performance. No regrets. I have previous experience with a PHEV a few years ago so I already knew in MA it would be about equal. The big difference comes when comparing 87 vs 93 locally, still about a $1.20 delta which did deter me from anything that runs premium, even if it wasn’t a problem for the budget, mentally hard to drop an extra $1k plus every year just for fuel.
Gosh dang, I had no idea electricity was so pricey up in Maine.
I think MA is Massachusetts
ME is Maine.
You are 100% correct. I was going to initially write that I was surprised at how expensive electricity was in Boston.. but that wouldn’t actually be that much of a shock. I also didn’t watt to assume he lived in just one circuit, so I changed it to MA in my head. Somehow, switches got flipped, and Massechsuttes became Maine. Sorry y’all, dealing with a lot of resistance at work right now. Current events are a mess.
“Breaking even” would imply gas is $2.39/gal in your area.
$35 / (425m/29mpg)
Discussions about gas prices impact my mood. Also, I love “60 Songs,” Rob is awesome.
Sometimes I think about morons furiously trying to scratch those Biden “I did that” stickers off gas pumps these days and I smile to myself.
Smile about burning precious seconds from your life? The youts these days..
If one takes one step back and read “gas” as “energy” in this context, it will be interesting to see how this will play out once gas (and all things oil in general) is phased out as the major energy source and the geopolitical factor mostly eliminated.
Energy goes up, consumers feel the pinch. Externalities are over weighted in the overall economic feeling and activity
Setting a reminder to check how this correlation holds in a couple of decades as US gets oil independence (both energetically and geopolitically). Will that be Good Vibes All Times; or deep Malaise Era II with stagnant activity due to de-globalization?
The US will never really be energy independent. Sure, there may be enough production to cover domestic needs, but the energy companies have already begun to be dependent on export markets. As long as they chase profits, there will be dependency. If the domestic market shrinks, this dependency will increase. If sucking stuff out of the ground is all you know how to to do, then you’ll be spitting it somewhere.
Make sure to leave a post-it note on my grave site when you find out. ha. I’ll be shark bait by then.
When that miraculous event occurs I will be long past my date of expiration.
I was paying over $1 gallon in the 1980s so I do not think given the cost of every thing else since the 1980s that I will cry about $3. For many the economy has been good for others not so much and it has always been that way. People who refuse to change with the times will be angry that they cannot get by. I do wish the minimum wage would go up for those just starting out.
Link to gas prices since 1980. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU000074716
The cost of gas is a lot like the weather. Sometimes it’s good and you praise it – other times it’s bad and you complain. But at the end of the day there’s nothing you can do about it and you just go about your business.
I guess one only hears what they listen to, but who in the heck has “good vibes” about the economy? Seriously.
Let’s assume a reasonable “living wage”, eh? So, $25/hr x 40 hrs. A cool $1k a week sounds nice, doesn’t it? Well, hold on skippy! You gotta pay taxes first!
Depending on the state, let’s just call that $750/week. $2600 per month. Cool. Now, let’s chip out those bills…
Wait, what is that you say? You only have $39.47 after everything, including the new dress shoelaces you had to buy to comply with the dress code at work?
Boy, are you living the dream! Just wait until you get a raise and get to pay a healthcare premium and end up with $23.77 in January! You’ll see the light 🙂
The question isn’t whether things are perfect now but whether they were any better in the past when economic vibes were good.
Lots of people are awfully nostalgic for the Trump years when real wages and purchasing power was less, the stock market was lower, etc.
But the numbers on the gas pump and in the egg aisle were a bit smaller, so who’s to say?
Nobody is talking “perfect”. But, a lot of people are talking that (unlike 4 years ago) $25/hr requires a roommate.
This is a problem, not a vibe.
The median worker is making more now adjusted for inflation than 4 years ago.
So while not everyone is better off, most people are.
There were poor people with roommates in 2019-2020 too. Somehow that didn’t stop people from saying the economy was good.
You say this every time the topic comes up. You continue to be wrong. Since the numbers have rolled to Q2, 2020 and 2024, you are really, really wrong this time. The past four years have been entirely stagnant in terms of real wage growth, and for young people trying to get their foot in the door this has been economically devastating.
I get that you are a boomer who has enjoyed a healthy appreciation of your stock portfolio and real estate holdings, but are you at least aware there exists a large chunk of the economy that have little-to-none of those assets, and depend entirely on wages for their financial well being? And that those people may be experiencing distress that you are not?
I’m a Millennial lol.
If you can’t understand the compositional effects of that chart (low wage workers laid off during 2020, I wonder if there might have been a non-economic reason for that) then it’s no wonder you keep thinking it proves your point.
Look at the 2012-2019 trend line and the 2021-2024 trend line. Wages have grown continuously for more than a decade and are higher than any point in the pre Covid Trump era (the time everyone seems to think was a great economy), or the Obama era, or the 1990s Clinton economy, or any other time that economic sentiment was great.
Of course there are people without stocks or real estate but the mistake is assuming that this was any different at any other time. There’s no rose-tinted past where everything was affordable and there was no poverty and everyone had it easy. By any objective measure the current economy is among the best in the history of the country.
Now, do debt and deficit trends…That’ll be fun 🙂
I share your concerns about the deficit over the long term and I think our politicians of all parties are irresponsible in continuing to kick the can down the road.
How vanilla of you! 😉
As bad as the deficit trend is, look at the total debt trend line starting with Reagan. That gives me nightmares but it’s mostly your generation’s problem. I probably have outrun it. Maybe…
Also, it’s hard not to notice that no one even talks about it or asks a question about it for the debates or election in general. Nothing will get done.
It ain’t my generation, lol. I’m a dead man walking.
The kids can figure it out. I have confidence in them ;)…maybe.
Translation “yeah data from the Fed blows my argument out of the water but I’m going to pretend the already noted exception somehow disproves the rule.”
2012-2019: positive slope
2021-2024- flat to negative slope, depending on which quarter you select
What exactly is your argument here? You have just pointed out that indeed, the past 4 years have had shit real wage growth, and are notably out of alignment with the prior decade’s trends. Congratulations, you played yourself.
For whom? All the numbers are bigger, including income and wealth inequality. The rich got richer, which makes Number Go Up, and the poor stayed poor while the necessities of life got more expensive. Is it any wonder the average person is not optimistic about the economy?
Since you don’t seem to understand the point being made about 2020 or 2021, here’s a simple example.
100 workers make $50,000 and 100 workers make $100,000. The median is trivially $75,000. Now lay off all the $50,000 workers. Amazing, your median wage is now $100,000!
That is more or less what happened in 2020. Once those low wage service workers were rehired, the median went down (but not below 2019 levels) and then started rising again, broadly in line with the 2012-19 trend.
Oh, and inequality is falling.
https://time.com/6267552/falling-american-inequality/
Just because there was more money infused into the total cash pool doesn’t mean more people are making more money on average.
In fact, the disparity is worse.
No, he’s saying that all of the lower income workers were laid off in 2020 due to lockdowns and people not leaving their homes for a year. This caused the average wage to increase because there were fewer low income workers, therefore a higher percentage of higher income workers.
So the negative trend lines for 2021-2024 are (partially) attributed to lower income jobs coming back and lowering the average income.
I get that part. It doesn’t make anything rosier.
That’s all a fair position, and I won’t discount your take, other thana person making $25/hour shouldn’t be “poor”.
It’s always you and me with different sides of the same coin. For two dudes that theoretically have disposable income, we just see things differently. And, that’s fine.
The spice of life, lol.
$25/hr is just a number and is anchored to your own perceptions of what a good wage is and where you live.
When my dad was a kid, $5/hr was a princely salary.
I don’t think $25/hr is “poor”, but is definitely well below median income.
Wait. What?
So, $25/hr is no good for you? What is? $31/hour?
If so, name the percentage of the population that can attain that wage (hint:it isn’t gonna be a favorite on Draftkings),
Dude, I don’t wanna argue with you, because I really like your comments here, but you are so out of whack on this one.
It’s cool that you are (somewhat) rich, so am I. But this fucking nonsense you are writing today….wow.
The median household income is more than $80,000.
The median individual income is almost $50,000.
My first reply assumed the household number, but even if you use the individual number, basically half the country makes more than 25 an hour.
You (and the other guy) seem to think this is about my personal finances. I haven’t mentioned them once. If one genre of article could sum up every post I’ve made here about the economy the last two years, it’s this one:
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/17/americans-are-actually-pretty-happy-with-their-finances
People are generally happy with their own finances, and down on the broader economy to an extent that’s rarely been seen before. That’s weird!
That’s before taxes, I assume. How exactly is someone supposed to live as an individual on
$2600/month in real cash?
Also, not counting co-workers or friends, how many people do you encounter on the daily, from the gorcery store to the car wash, to the CVS that are making $80k/year.
Think about your week. You deal with WAY more people making $40k than you do with people making $90k.
Herein lies the flaw in your position.
Presumably the same way people in that situation did 5, 10, and 50 years ago, with the median wage of their time.
Yet, you are arguing the opposite, saying things are better! lol.
I’m 39 years old.
People my age graduated into the worst job market in decades and managed to get by making way less than young people today.
My parents not only graduated into the stagnation and high inflation of the 1970s, but paid 13 or 14% on their first mortgage.
So yes, I believe things are pretty good (on balance, not in every measure and not for every person!!!), and have been generally getting better for a long time.
Rents too damn high!
I pine for the Ford, Carter and Reagan years. Everything was so rose colored then.
That’s still a lot better than being paid just$12/hr and having those bills. Hell, I’ve been at my job for over 20 years and get $20.00/hr.
Exactly my point, Gene!
But, soooome people on the site only buy their glasses in rose gold azure tint. Which is fine. They maybe made for old ladies, but no one is stopping said people from sporting ’em.
I drive an EV so I’m usually oblivious, my wife drives our gas car when we both go in for the day but it’s only 10 miles for her to get to work so not a lot of gas used there.
Say what you will about EVs, whether electricity costs just as much or not(generally not) at least electricity costs don’t go up or down 20-30% based on the temperature, politicians, OPEC, etc.
Back when Colonial shut down due to the ransomware attack I was oblivious then too, driving by the gas stations with cars lined up, I was like, is there a sale going on? Had to ask when I got to work what was up. Kind of a nice oblivious.
My GTI and Locost require 93. The gen 1 Tundra takes the cheap stuff…so I often wonder if the truck is cheaper to run the truck and then shrug it all off.
Similar situation for my Sierra and S5. Except my S5 barely gets better mileage than my Sierra, so I think I know the (sad) answer.
You shrug. I do math!
Need to compare the prices of the two octanes — as a percentage — versus the MPG of the two — as a percentage.
Example:
Truck on 87 gets 15mpg.
Car on 93 gets 25mpg.
Car gets 166% of mileage of the truck.
These numbers generally won’t vary.
87 is $3.00/gal
93 is $4.00/gal
93 costs 133% of 87.
These vary.
When the gas price of 93 is greater than 166% of the 87, the truck is more cost-efficient.
I understand that a very solid (and upsetting) number of Americans can feel the difference between $3 and $3.50 gas, but I know a large amount of people who surely actually don’t. However, they love to pretend that it matters, particularly when it suits their political narrative. The fact is that gas is fairly flat (and slightly negative) on a long term trend when accounting for inflation, and people just love to mitch and boan
A $1/gallon difference means about 20 bucks a month to me. I guess I’m fortunate that it doesn’t matter so much to me anymore.
To be honest I almost never paid attention to pump prices. I fuel up maybe once a month and gas price just isn’t relevant to family budget.
We pay through the nose to live in NYC but there are benefits to be reliant on public transportation.
Interesting timing, gas prices locally in San Diego jumped 20 cents yesterday after having been flat for a couple of months.
News about Israel possibly targeting Iran’s oil facilities sent things up over night
Gas prices are down? I didn’t get the memo.
Well all you need to know is that Biden did that!
What is the SPR number at right now? Asking for a friend.
I go to Kroger for most of my shopping. It usually gets me 20-30c off each month. Most every gas station is more expensive than Kroger’s non-discount price anyway.
I don’t drive enough that the price of gas at the local pump makes a difference to me.
However, the price of fuel/oil in general is very important. Everything we buy is shipped from somewhere. Shipping runs primarily on diesel. When diesel is expensive, consumer goods get more expensive. High fuel expenses result in higher service charges for everything from trash removal to airplane tickets. Chemical fertilizers used at most farms are petroleum based, so when oil gets expensive, you can expect your food to get more expensive. etc. etc.
So des the price of gas affect my mood? no, but it does affect my general outlook for the future.
car sauce less exponsive
“Maximize US oil production so Bonesaw can’t play games with US politics” is the Devil’s bargain but at least we get fracking expertise we can use to produce geothermal energy just about anywhere.
I focus less on what gas costs and what I can do to get the price down. Kroger incentives typically get me ~.30-.40 off per gallon once a month, and my Advanced Auto account gets me a separate .20 per gallon about 1.5 every months. It’s not a ton since neither of my cars have large tanks, but any savings is welcome.
Gas will cost what it will cost, any discount is still a discount, whether it be on $2/gal or $4/gal.
I am fortunate enough to earn enough that I don’t care what gas costs. It certainly does not impact my mood, though my economist training recognizes that it resonates with the proletariat.
Gas prices are a bit like milk prices, I only notice large shifts, on the other hand I’m very aware of grocery prices and the cost difference over time since I buy pretty much the same stuff every week and what used to average $150 in 2019 averages $200 since late 2022. Eating out is another indicator, at the low end tracking a Big Mac meal shows inflation as does a small steak dinner and no matter how much the talking heads say things are better they are not. I can say the same about my mortgage, the base loan payment is the same but I have $200 more in escrow since 2021.
Regarding election years and car purchases, they are irrelevant to me I buy a car when I need one or have spare money.
Toyota delaying EVs is smart as long as they have an EV lineup ready to roll out. GM is showing the wisdom of Toyota’s decision right now.
Lucid survives while Fisker failed partly because they have a better product but largely because their backers have deep pockets and patience. Being willing to discount their car by an entire Kia Soul leads me to think super luxury EVs are overpriced.
Gas prices are fascinating from an economic pov b/c…name something else whose price is publicly displayed in large numbers for everyone, even non-purchasers, to routinely see? Given that, perhaps not surprising it’s such a bellwether.
Theoretically, the more prices that could be so transparent, the more efficiently markets could operate, but in the real world, that would probably generate way too much noise for us to process.
What will be really interesting is in the future when we see the price of gas and of kilowatts displayed side by side.
The buggy takes premium so I try not to look at the price at the pump but I’ll tell you what does chap my cheap ass, jeans! Since when are they all so damn expensive?!? And shoes! What the hell, I’ve been wearing the same damn Vans slip-ons for decades but they just keep getting more and more and more expensive but the quality and comfort sure as hell aren’t improving. Don’t get me started on groceries, I curse that Damn Jeaux Buyden for not ordering enough Oreos for the country every time I visit my local HEB.
I’ve worn Levis most of my life (when I was a kid, they were the only real game in town), and while I realize it’s a faded brand at this point, I was unprepared to find out they’re now sold…at Target. I guess I’m glad they’re cheaper, but jeeze.
I stopped wearing Levi’s years ago and switched to Lee because they fit me better and then stopped wearing jeans altogether. If I bought jeans now I’d go to Wilco and buy Key double font loggers.
I only wear denim to ride motorbikes now, and that has Dyneema woven in. Most other times it is 686 everywhere pants. I love them.
If they are 686 pants, shouldn’t they be referred to as Pentium Pro or Pentium II pants?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P6_(microarchitecture)
Ha, groan.
https://www.686.com/collections/mens-pants
H.E.B. There’s your problem.
HEB is awesome!
You haven’t shopped until you’ve shopped at a Woodman’s.
my go-to jeans for over 25 years and still $9.99. The quality varies from year to year though.
https://www.fleetfarm.com/detail/field-forest-men-s-dark-stonewash-relaxed-fit-classic-5-pocket-denim-jeans/0000000274694
I haven’t paid attention to the cost of gas in decades. I filled up yesterday and can’t tell you what I paid per gallon.
Now my favorite 6 back of beer is up over $10 and I think that is absolutely crazy. WTF
If you are anything like me, then you go through more beer than gas so you really feel that. I always thought it was strange that bottled water could cost significantly more than gas per unit volume.
You’re paying for the bottles and the distribution thereof. Do the math comparing it to the cost of the (same) water that comes out of your kitchen faucet, i.e. bulk distribution.
Or figure out what gasoline would need to cost the manufacturer if you bought it in pre-packaged 12 to 16oz bottles that someone is unloading from a delivery truck and putting on a shelf. So about seven to ten cases of the stuff to fill up the average vehicle.
If your house had a pipeline for gasoline (like natural gas, water, and electricity do for many/most) into your house then gasoline would be even cheaper than it currently is at the neighborhood pump that is only replenished one tanker truck at a time.
Well back when the price of different grades was only a 5 cent jump from regular to mid and 5 cents mid to premium, gas prices made more sense. But now that the Camaro needs the premium 93 octane and the fact that it costs more than $1 more per gallon than regular, I hate everything
“I hate everything”
Even me and my meaty goodness?
I recently filled up my S10 with a full tank of E85 for $2.09 a gallon, which was nice. Got 1 less mpg than normal but for $0.90 less per gallon I will take that.
It’s funny how ingrained the gas price thing gets in a person’s brain – I’ll be driving by a gas station in my Bolt which of course doesn’t use any gas, and still think “ooh gas is below $3!” as though it mattered.
I’m with you there, at least most of the way since PHEV. Unless I go out of town, I only fill up every couple of months, but I still watch the numbers. What gets me is when there’s a $0.50/gal price difference from one side of the street to the other (E10, credit card self serve). Then I shrug to myself, go home, and plug in the van to charge up on that delicious solar power.
Yeah I still have my Volt for longer trips because “fast” charging a Bolt is a pain in the ass.
Same. The only times I’ve been to a gas station since getting an EV have been for mower gas or a snack. We still have an ICE car but it’s for a shorter commute. So gas doesn’t matter quite as much.
Since I switched to Electric I pay more attention now to the electric bill, and when DTE raise their prices I scream and complain but people seems to worry more about gas prices since they have to pay on the spot when you fill up, with electric you have a month ish basically.