Are Gas Prices Going Up?

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A friend of mine — longtime EV evangelists David Havasi — sent me a meme this weekend about EV owners not having to deal with the problem of fast rising gas prices. My first thought was, “Are gas prices really rising a lot?” Because, driving an EV for several years, I simply don’t know what’s happening at gas stations around me! We’ve published a few articles about how the war with Iran will lead to rising gas prices and should help move people to EVs, but I haven’t bothered to check on gas price trends to see if that’s happening. Apparently, though, it is happening, and I’ve seen more and more comments on that since David sent me the meme.

With the clear implication from the meme that gas prices are rising, though, my next question was: “How much are they rising?” Have they risen 10 cents a gallon, 30 cents a gallon, $1 a gallon? I don’t even have a sense of what that means any more. It’s a relief and comfort to not have a gas car for so long that you are detached completely from what is happening with gas prices, or even what any changes mean in terms of actual monthly costs. I imagine there are now millions of EV owners in this boat. (Though, I haven’t had a gas car for about 22 years, so it may be that many EV owners still have a better memory and sense of these things than I do.)

After seeing memes and various comments about gas prices rising, I thought I’d check in and see how things have changed in the past week. Here’s what I’ve found:

• The US average price of regular gasoline was $2.89 a little over a month ago, according to AAA.
• It’s now $3.48.
• That is a pretty significant jump — a rise of almost 60 cents, or 20.4%.
• Just one week ago, it was $2.997 — so, almost a 50 cent, or 16%, increase in one week.

The question now is what’s around the corner? A one-week spike is one thing, but what if it keeps increasing? Or what if it is stable at this higher level in the coming months? Is there any chance it will actually drop back down to $3.00?

Another source has the following long-term graph on gas prices:

There are different analyses on how much gas the average American uses, and this is really a very personal or unique number you’d have to find for yourself, but AAA has estimated that US vehicles burn about 562 gallons of gasoline a year. At an increase of 60 cents a gallon, that’s $337.20 more a year. But what about all those people driving gas-guzzling SUVs and trucks instead of more fuel efficient sedans, hybrids, and EVs? Keep in mind that the national average per vehicle is including zero-emission EVs as part of that calculation. If you burn 700 gallons a year, that’s an extra $420. If you burn 1000 gallons a year, that’s another $600.

I know what I’d be doing if I owned a gasoline car. I’d be looking at the electric vehicle options on the market right now. Also, unlike a few years ago, there’s now a robust used EV market, so one can really shop for all kinds of options in various ways at a wide range of prices.

Frankly, electric cars are often more convenient and more enjoyable to own than gas cars now, so this increase in gas prices is just one more little push to get people to discover that.

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