Gas/Oil Prices Update

Unfortunately, these days a simple statement of fact is often taken as provocative.

2 Likes

A lot of the cost of those drugs is the middleman. The GPO (Goup Purchasing Organizations) take most of the profit of drug companies.

1 Like

To explain why you are wrong, energy is one of the 3 largest drivers of the Consumer Price Index (the other 2 being housing and food). If we raised oil prices (energy) to keep inflation under control, then we would be increasing inflation to keep inflation under control. Obviously, that’s kind of impossible.

To control inflation you reduce demand for one of the main drivers. When the fed raises “interest rates” (not entirely accurate but it’ll do for this) they’re making it more expensive to borrow money, which reduces demand for things like mortgages, car loans, etc. Reducing demand for mortgages drives housing prices down, which lowers one of the other main drivers of the CPI.

It’s difficult for any sort of fiscal policy to control demand for gasoline in quite the same way. As someone said above, if I want to go to work, I need to drive, which means I need to buy gas. On the other hand, if I’m living paycheck to paycheck and putting gas on the credit card, those higher interest rates mean higher monthly payments which means I might need to cut back on how much gets charged to the card. And one way to do that is to only drive to work and back, no fun trips. So there will be a bit of a downward pressure at least in part on the energy pillar, but not as much as housing.

And really, demand isn’t what’s driving inflation right now. There’s a global boycott of Russian oil, not just a US boycott. Gas is more expensive everywhere - in fact, we’re getting off easy. The average price for gas in the US is around 5 bucks a gallon. The UK is paying over $8 per gallon on average. There’s little that government or fiscal policy can do to stop the geopolitical instability that’s driving worldwide inflation right now.

And making gas more expensive certainly isn’t going to work, on any planet.

4 Likes

I’m glad, in a way, that I got my EV when I did. 87 is $5.03 at the least expensive according to gasbuddy and the cheapest 93 octane is $5.65. A week or 2 ago premium was $5.99 at the grocery store I frequent.
While it is nice to not pay those prices for my car, especially since my old CX-7 took premium, I know I’m paying for those prices in increased costs for delivery, consumer goods, and just about every other thing out there.

1 Like

At least you aren’t paying directly for high priced gasoline, @bscar. Enjoy your ride.

How low does gasoline have to go before you stop saving money with your EV? At 20 MPG and $5 gasoline, $50,000 can drive you 200,000 miles, which is longer than the battery lasts in any EV, except for maybe if lithium iron phosphane (LFP) cells are used. I think Tesla and only Tesla has only recently started using LFP.

I have been enjoying it, but I am also looking forward to the Silverado ET I have reserved- and hoping the lease on my Bolt doesn’t end before I get the truck.
First vehicle I have ever leased because I wasn’t sure how I’d like it and if I didn’t like it, I only had 3 years with it instead of the 8-10 I kept my last 2 vehicles.

1 Like

After tax, title, etc my Bolt was $34k out the door with $13k off sticker as a dealer incentive.
I was already thinking of buying a new vehicle at the time I got my Bolt, the MSRP was about $43k at the time.when gas was $2/gallon, the dealerships were doing similar offers to the Bolt that they did to trucks when gas went up in 2008.I do not consider the cost of the vehicle in the cost per mile as I was going to get a new vehicle regardless, it just happened to be an EV.

I’ve been reading that EV battery life is about 500,000 miles, but we won’t know for sure until sometime in between 2040 and 2050 when these early model EVs have had the chance to get those miles on them. I’ve had my Bolt since November 2020 and just now performed the first routine maintenance on it today- I bought a gallon of windshield washer fluid and filled my reservoir up.
The maintenance costs are another savings on top of just gas prices. With regen braking, I’ll probably never have to replace the brake pads/rotors. There is no oil to change, no gas to buy, no transmission fluid to worry about. Only real things to do maintenance wise is to keep the tires pumped up, washer fluid topped off and coolant checked every few years.

It might be easier to return a Chevrolet lease too. I recall that when the Volt first came out Chevy had a $99/month lease to encourage leasing instead of purchase. I think they did that to make it easy to replace cars that malfunctioned because of design or manufacturing errors on their first real hybrid car. I’m differentiating it from the mild (low voltage) hybrid trucks they built.

I was more referring to the fact my lease ends February or March of 2024 and there hasn’t really been any more info on when we can order the ET and have it delivered. If it can be delivered before the lease is up, great. If not, I may have to buy something temporarily in the meantime

I’m a commited IC V6 driver but the gas prices and GM’s Bolt pricing have made me seriosly reconsider.
If it’s a year or two and if they hold the price this may be my next car.

1 Like

A thought to ponder…

:thinking:

2 Likes

Nothing against wind energy, but the cost of producing those windmills has gone up significantly.

3 Likes

96 mph head wind at 30,000 feet. Maybe the experts can use sky hooks. Just as useful to modern society.

Got your head in the clouds @bing?

2 Likes

Not as much as the folks that think wind mills and solar panels are the key to a thriving economy. Follow the money.

This include ExxonMobil? They invested heavily into Solar and Wind.

1 Like

Gasoline News from California. 6.22.22

The state’s budget starts July 1, budget deadlines fast approaching. Gov’r, state legislature, and loyal opposition have all been debating for the past year what to do about gasoline prices.

Gov’r: I want to give every family who owns a car a debit card for $400 per car, $800 max per family.

Legislature: No way. Wouldn’t help one-car families enough and no help at all for those w/no cars.

Loyal opposition: Temporary repeal the state gasoline tax.

Net result: No help given to anybody; instead decision is to investigate the gasoline companies; goal is to determine why the price of gasoline has increased … lol … seriously, not making this up!!

1 Like

That is why California is called LA LA LAND. :upside_down_face:

Maybe this is why California is home to so many comedians … :wink:

1 Like