Will the price of gas in the US ever go back down to January 2020 levels?

[dez1978]

My wife would die. She sets the AC at 70 at night so she can sleep. But she keeps it at 75 during the day. But so far our daytime solar panel production is exceeding the cost of the power from our electric company for keeping it so cool at night.

oh goodness. We are at 69 during the day and 66 at night lol. My dogs start panting if it gets above 72 inside

 

[loves to dive]

Sure hope it does. I retired last month and am living off savings for the next year until I'm old enough for SS. Thankfully, since I'm not working I don't have to drive a lot but my grand daughter lives about 45 min. from us and I'm not going to miss seeing her grow up.

 

[yensid's offspring]

I don't think we will ever see prices around $2 again. This is far too great an opportunity for the Climate Change, formally global warming, formally the cooling earth crowd of the 70's to seize the moment and keep the pressure on the consumer to transition away from fossil fuels. The problem is that the infrastructure is not there to support the transition and we will see gas prices north of $3 and most likely between $3.50 and $4 (as normal price) until we totally transition to Electric vehicles.

 

[longboard55]

Actually the price of oil got much higher in 2007, what ultimately brought the price down was more fuel efficient cars. The cash for clunkers program got a lot of gas guzzlers off the road. The issue now is oil companies are very reluctant to spend billions on a refinery that will not be ready for 10 years, because they worry demand will not be there

 

[karen4546]

Sadly, fuel prices are going to not be what they were several years ago. They will probably go down for a bit in November-closer to election time.

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't think we will ever see prices around $2 again. This is far too great an opportunity for the Climate Change, formally global warming, formally the cooling earth crowd of the 70's to seize the moment and keep the pressure on the consumer to transition away from fossil fuels. The problem is that the infrastructure is not there to support the transition and we will see gas prices north of $3 and most likely between $3.50 and $4 (as normal price) until we totally transition to Electric vehicles.

Unless there is another pandemic and shutdowns, I doubt we will see $2 again, I don’t think we would’ve seen it without Covid.

 

[tvguy]

Sure hope it does. I retired last month and am living off savings for the next year until I'm old enough for SS. Thankfully, since I'm not working I don't have to drive a lot but my grand daughter lives about 45 min. from us and I'm not going to miss seeing her grow up.

I retired 11 months ago, living off savings for another 18 months. My Granddaughter moved 400 miles away, and she now has a sister. Even at $7 a gallon, if I take my 23 mpg SUV gas would be about $280.........which is what air fare is per person ONE WAY, not counting the cost of renting a car when I arrive. If we took our Camry Hybrid, it would cut the gas bill in half, but we have to haul stuff down so need the SUV

 

[yensid's offspring]

Down to around $2? I seriously doubt it. I’ll be happy with the $3.50 range.

The other night I saw a Law & Order rerun from about 1997. In the background was a Hess station with a $1.34 price sign. In NYC!!!

1997 that would have been like season 17

 

[Dan Murphy]

I remember how outraged we were when it went up to .69 in the first oil embargo

And 28¢-35¢ prior to the Arab/Israeli War in '73. Per barrel oil price went from about $3 to almost $12 in 6 months. Price today is $111 for Brent Crude.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

It will - I remember when it cost me $80 to fill up in 2008 (2x a week when I had a 75-mile commute and made $35k a year). Prices crept back down in the years that followed. This too shall pass.

Like others have said, we will also be looking into an EV as our next car. We’re confident that the range will improve in the next couple of years, our only challenge is figuring out if our old house (circa 1931) has the proper electrical system to support charging.

 

[kdonnel]

We stayed at a hotel week before last, and they had put in EV charging stations, but they were on the Disabled Parking slots. I wonder who gets priority, someone with a Disabled placard or someone in an EV?

According to California law, the primary purpose of that spot is EV charging.

http://evchargingpros.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/CA-PEV-Access-Guidelines.pdf

ADVISORY: EVG-250.1 General. While there is no positive requirement to provide electric vehicle charging stations, when they are provided a portion of them should be accessible. When co-located with parking spaces, electric vehicle charging is considered the primary function of these stations, not parking. Accessible electric vehicle charging stations are not to be reserved exclusively for the use of persons with disabilities. They should not be identified with signage that would mistakenly indicate their use is only for vehicles with placards or license plates for individuals with disabilities.

 

[kdonnel]

IMHO we need to have as many charging stations as we have gas stations, especially since it takes longer to charge EVs than it does to put gas in a car.

That is not necessary since the majority of charging occurs at the home or business.

We only need as many DC fast charging stations as gas pumps exclusively used for long distance travel. The majority of gas pumps are used by people fueling their cars for local travel.

I have never used a DC fast charging station unless on a long distance trip, that holds true for the vast majority of EV owners who have level 2 AC home or office charging available.

The infrastructure of DC fast charging continues to grow and much like anything new, large amounts of taxpayer money is being used for the build out.

 

[kdonnel]

Just curious - how much does it cost to charge an EV at a public charging station? Does anybody who has one have accurate records of the costs for charging at home? I would like to know what the fuel costs are, compared to a regular gas engine. One of our vehicles is a self-charging hybrid and it consumes less than half the amount of gas my smaller, theoretically very fuel-efficient vehicle does.

The cost is of course directly tied to electric rates and if charging is done at home or at public chargers.

In my case I charge almost exclusively at home, although this month my son has taken the Chevy Bolt EV to college and has had to rely on public charging. The June cost increase includes his public charging costs.



In March we got our second EV and my wife and I went exclusively electric. You can also see in the chart how the summer electric rates kicked in during May causing the cost per mile to rise. During summer rate months we pay roughly 4 cents a mile and during winter rate months we pay roughly 2 cents a mile.

The car I most recently replaced averaged 25 MPG. Gas would need to be $1 a gallon to equal my summer costs, 50 cents a gallon to equal my winter costs.

The cost savings are reduced when comparing home charging (where the majority of charging typically occurs) to public charging (typically reserved for road trips, though those without convenient home or work charging rely on public charging).

My son charged at a public AC level 2 charging station on campus. It cost $4.94 and delivered 22.05 kWh. That same 22.05 kWh would have cost $2.60 at home. That 22.05 kWh is very conservatively about 75 miles worth of energy. So even public level 2 AC charging is a substantial savings over gas.

75 miles for $4.94 in the Bolt vs 75 miles for $13.50 (at $4.50 a gallon) in a 25 MPG car.

Public DC fast charging is more expensive.

Electrify America charges 43 cents a kWh with no subscription or 31 cents a kWh plus a $4 monthly subscription fee.

Let's assume that if someone is going to rely on public DC Fast charging that they will pay $4 for the monthly subscription and drive 1251 miles like I have so far in June.

In June my 1251 miles have used 367 kWh at a cost of $46 charging at home. If instead I charged exclusively at Electrify America I would have spent $4 + $113.77 for a total of $117.77. Again assuming a car that gets 25 MPG and driving 1251 miles, that car would have used 50 gallons of gas at $4.50 a gallon that would be a cost of $225.



So even paying to exclusively charge at the higher DC Fast charging rates, electricity in Georgia is still substantially cheaper than gasoline at 25 MPG and today's gas prices.

Drive a car that gets 50 MPG? That substantially changes the numbers and makes the gasoline powered car virtually the same cost over the 1251 miles when compared to charging exclusively at Electrify America assuming the same $4.50 gasoline cost but is still several orders more expensive than an EV that charges at home.

Gas has to get very, very, very cheap to beat home electric rates, at least in the state of Georgia.

 

[kymom99]

The cost is of course directly tied to electric rates and if charging is done at home or at public chargers.

In my case I charge almost exclusively at home, although this month my son has taken the Chevy Bolt EV to college and has had to rely on public charging. The June cost increase includes his public charging costs.

View attachment 678500

In March we got our second EV and my wife and I went exclusively electric. You can also see in the chart how the summer electric rates kicked in during May causing the cost per mile to rise. During summer rate months we pay roughly 4 cents a mile and during winter rate months we pay roughly 2 cents a mile.

The car I most recently replaced averaged 25 MPG. Gas would need to be $1 a gallon to equal my summer costs, 50 cents a gallon to equal my winter costs.

The cost savings are reduced when comparing home charging (where the majority of charging typically occurs) to public charging (typically reserved for road trips, though those without convenient home or work charging rely on public charging).

My son charged at a public AC level 2 charging station on campus. It cost $4.94 and delivered 22.05 kWh. That same 22.05 kWh would have cost $2.60 at home. That 22.05 kWh is very conservatively about 75 miles worth of energy. So even public level 2 AC charging is a substantial savings over gas.

75 miles for $4.94 in the Bolt vs 75 miles for $13.50 (at $4.50 a gallon) in a 25 MPG car.

Public DC fast charging is more expensive.

Electrify America charges 43 cents a kWh with no subscription or 31 cents a kWh plus a $4 monthly subscription fee.

Let's assume that if someone is going to rely on public DC Fast charging that they will pay $4 for the monthly subscription and drive 1251 miles like I have so far in June.

In June my 1251 miles have used 367 kWh at a cost of $46 charging at home. If instead I charged exclusively at Electrify America I would have spent $4 + $113.77 for a total of $117.77. Again assuming a car that gets 25 MPG and driving 1251 miles, that car would have used 50 gallons of gas at $4.50 a gallon that would be a cost of $225.

View attachment 678504

So even paying to exclusively charge at the higher DC Fast charging rates, electricity in Georgia is still substantially cheaper than gasoline at 25 MPG and today's gas prices.

Drive a car that gets 50 MPG? That substantially changes the numbers and makes the gasoline powered car virtually the same cost over the 1251 miles when compared to charging exclusively at Electrify America assuming the same $4.50 gasoline cost but is still several orders more expensive than an EV that charges at home.

Gas has to get very, very, very cheap to beat home electric rates, at least in the state of Georgia.

Thank you for the data

 

[Ms.Minnie]

Just curious - how much does it cost to charge an EV at a public charging station? Does anybody who has one have accurate records of the costs for charging at home? I would like to know what the fuel costs are, compared to a regular gas engine. One of our vehicles is a self-charging hybrid and it consumes less than half the amount of gas my smaller, theoretically very fuel-efficient vehicle does.

What type of vehicle is your self-charging hybrid?

That is not necessary since the majority of charging occurs at the home or business.

We only need as many DC fast charging stations as gas pumps exclusively used for long distance travel. The majority of gas pumps are used by people fueling their cars for local travel.

I have never used a DC fast charging station unless on a long distance trip, that holds true for the vast majority of EV owners who have level 2 AC home or office charging available.

The infrastructure of DC fast charging continues to grow and much like anything new, large amounts of taxpayer money is being used for the build out.

Interesting and probably accurate way to look at it. Something I hadn't considered. Thanks for putting it in that perspective.

 

[_19disnA]

I really don't think the price of gas is directly related to who occupies the White House. Each party wants to take the credit when the economy is doing well and blame the other party when it isn't. Economic cycles tend to be measured in YEARS and typically decisions made in the short-term don't play out for 3-5 yrs into the future. We are also in a global economy, so regardless of what you think our politicians do/don't want or decide to do in the USA, they have very little influence over how things are going in other countries.

I can remember when nuclear power was going to be the answer to all of our energy concerns. It was thought at one time that nuclear power used to produce electricity would be so inexpensive, the utility companies would not even bother sending out electric bills.............clearly that never happened. Just because we spend a lot of money on R&D doesn't guarantee we will solve all of our technical issues no matter what the topic. We still don't know what to do with radioactive waste resulting from nuclear power generation that remains radioactive for 10,000+ years. We can also spend a lot of money on R&D for batteries to power EV's. No one yet knows how that will pan out and there is no certainty we will be successful in extending the range of batteries and/or reduce the recharge time to fully replace ICE vehicles.

 

[ronandannette]

The cost is of course directly tied to electric rates and if charging is done at home or at public chargers.

In my case I charge almost exclusively at home, although this month my son has taken the Chevy Bolt EV to college and has had to rely on public charging. The June cost increase includes his public charging costs.

View attachment 678500

In March we got our second EV and my wife and I went exclusively electric. You can also see in the chart how the summer electric rates kicked in during May causing the cost per mile to rise. During summer rate months we pay roughly 4 cents a mile and during winter rate months we pay roughly 2 cents a mile.

The car I most recently replaced averaged 25 MPG. Gas would need to be $1 a gallon to equal my summer costs, 50 cents a gallon to equal my winter costs.

The cost savings are reduced when comparing home charging (where the majority of charging typically occurs) to public charging (typically reserved for road trips, though those without convenient home or work charging rely on public charging).

My son charged at a public AC level 2 charging station on campus. It cost $4.94 and delivered 22.05 kWh. That same 22.05 kWh would have cost $2.60 at home. That 22.05 kWh is very conservatively about 75 miles worth of energy. So even public level 2 AC charging is a substantial savings over gas.

75 miles for $4.94 in the Bolt vs 75 miles for $13.50 (at $4.50 a gallon) in a 25 MPG car.

Public DC fast charging is more expensive.

Electrify America charges 43 cents a kWh with no subscription or 31 cents a kWh plus a $4 monthly subscription fee.

Let's assume that if someone is going to rely on public DC Fast charging that they will pay $4 for the monthly subscription and drive 1251 miles like I have so far in June.

In June my 1251 miles have used 367 kWh at a cost of $46 charging at home. If instead I charged exclusively at Electrify America I would have spent $4 + $113.77 for a total of $117.77. Again assuming a car that gets 25 MPG and driving 1251 miles, that car would have used 50 gallons of gas at $4.50 a gallon that would be a cost of $225.

View attachment 678504

So even paying to exclusively charge at the higher DC Fast charging rates, electricity in Georgia is still substantially cheaper than gasoline at 25 MPG and today's gas prices.

Drive a car that gets 50 MPG? That substantially changes the numbers and makes the gasoline powered car virtually the same cost over the 1251 miles when compared to charging exclusively at Electrify America assuming the same $4.50 gasoline cost but is still several orders more expensive than an EV that charges at home.

Gas has to get very, very, very cheap to beat home electric rates, at least in the state of Georgia.

Thank you for this. I know nobody who owns an EV locally so I didn't have the foggiest idea.

What type of vehicle is your self-charging hybrid?


Interesting and probably accurate way to look at it. Something I hadn't considered. Thanks for putting it in that perspective.

Toyota Camry. The battery is charged by the gas engine.

 

[DCLMP]

Nope.

High gas and food prices are here to stay. They might go up as fast in the future. But I don't see them going down.

They’ve been telling us there’s going to be a global food crisis. I’m inclined to believe them.

 

[RamblingMad]

They’ve been telling us there’s going to be a global food crisis. I’m inclined to believe them.

No bread for you. Basically, Ukraine provides most of the world's wheat production. And Russia provides oil and fertilizer. I don't see food prices going down any time soon. Time to eat more veggies.

 

[DCLMP]

oh goodness. We are at 69 during the day and 66 at night lol. My dogs start panting if it gets above 72 inside

If you live in a hot dry climate 78 is perfectly comfortably. When I travel to Florida I always turn it down to 65.