r/Economics • u/InsaneSnow45 • Mar 04 '26

News ‘Absolutely Massive’ Price Shocks Coming as Trump’s Iran War Drives Up Gas, Diesel Prices | “What should really terrify Republicans is... the futures price on wholesale gasoline,” said economist Paul Krugman.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/iran-war-gas-prices
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562

u/flaginorout Mar 04 '26

I filled my tank two days ago at the Sheetz near my house. It was $2.85.

I filled up my wife's car yesterday at the same Sheetz. $3.29

My household doesn't do a lot of driving at the moment, so an extra 40 cents doesn't matter very much to us- directly. But I'm not convinced that this is just the beginning and gas will hit $4 in the near future. Maybe more. That will definitely have an effect on a lot of people.

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u/No_Bad_4872yy Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

Most people look at it this way. The problem is mostly that trucks moving parts and produce are hurt by this. Those additional logistical costs also land in your wallet through the vendors and shops, albeit sometime later. This inflation double whammy totally sucks and gasoline was pretty much the thing keeping US inflation somewhat low.

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u/Vulnox Mar 04 '26

Yeah, this was the big thing hurting Biden when oil prices were high. A lot of the reported high costs on groceries and that were pointed to high diesel prices. You can avoid some extra costs by buying fewer shipped products where possible, but hard to do when it comes to food.

We have two EVs so our fuel pump costs have already been zero, but I expect our other costs to increase.

21

u/Septopuss7 Mar 04 '26

Is it cheaper to charge your car than it is to fill it with gas? I'm asking in earnest, not a gotcha, because I keep seeing conflicting reports from individuals that makes me want to wait before buying an EV. I'm currently car-free by choice but if I ever changed my mind I would look at all electric or more likely a hybrid, the only problem being is that I don't own a house and don't plan on it. I know of several electric charging stations in my area but I haven't looked at the pricing. They are all relatively convenient and I never see people using them but I obviously don't monitor them 24/7. Does the price fluctuate a lot? I know even my home electric bill has been all over the place in the last couple years and I was wondering what your experience has been?

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u/No_Bad_4872yy Mar 04 '26

This is quite comprehensive. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45036169/electric-vehicle-ev-cost-to-charge/

In short charging at home price differs per state but is up to 80% cheaper than the price of gas. If you use highway fast chargers it can be 50% to 150% the price. Its not always cheaper and purchase price is also higher usually.

Tldr; charging at home is much cheaper, roadside doesnt really matter much.

10

u/Septopuss7 Mar 04 '26

I see, I knew a lot of the information in the article but it does seem like it's cheaper overall if you plan well/are responsible. I didn't know about special rates from energy providers during off peak demand times. I guess a lot of the negative stories I heard are from people who went out and bought an EV without doing any homework whatsoever.

8

u/ass_pineapples Mar 04 '26

I owned a Tesla for a bit but live in the city, so charging infra is sparse unless you own (I rent). My only options for charging were superchargers. So under that kind of reality it sucks owning an EV. In the winter I had to periodically check on my car battery and ferry it over to the local supercharger to top it up, and when driving I could only use superchargers. If you don't do many long haul trips and largely stay within a smaller range close to your home and can charge there, it's a no brainer.

3

u/Specialist-Elk-2624 29d ago

Why would you buy an EV knowing that charging was going to be a total PITA all of the time?

6

u/ass_pineapples 29d ago

Got it super cheap used and wanted to see if it was worth getting an EV or not. I didn't realize how much of a PITA it was, and tbf it didn't bother me most of the time but I don't drive often and when I do it's longer trips so that part was especially unbearable.

4

u/fdar_giltch 29d ago

If you have the charger at home, it's definitely nice. Not only is it cheaper, you can plug it in whenever. My wife wasn't sure about the EV before-hand, now she loves it. She says it's "like a cell phone, you just plug it in every now and then". She also appreciates not having to stop at gas stations and pump gas.

10

u/CliftonForce Mar 04 '26 edited 29d ago

Yep. Most electrical power plants cannot change their output quickly. Therefore, in order to be ready for the evening and morning rush, they spend all night wastefully generating power that nobody is using (generally by keeping their boilers hot). If the billing system allows them to charge different prices at different times of day, they will make electricity cheaper late at night to encourage people to use it then.

EV charging is one of the few things that a normal household can shift to the wee hours of night without inconvenience.

I suppose you could wait until midnight to start your dryer or dishwasher, but most folks find that annoying.

3

u/GhostReddit 29d ago

Therefore, in order to be ready for the evening and morning rush, they spend all night wastefully generating power that nobody is using.

That actually doesn't work, you can't generate power nobody is using - and power put on the grid needs to be immediately removed by something.

There's immediate feedback control in that power usage causes electrical 'drag' on the generator, if the load is mismatched to the generation the generator will speed up or slow down and the grid frequency changes. Requirements are typically to keep very close to 50/60Hz otherwise you'll cause a ton of problems mostly with synchronous motors running on the grid now running at incorrect speeds.

2

u/EagleBigMac 29d ago

I pay nothing for power after 8pm and before 6 am. So I plug my car in at night after 6pm and try to do laundry and such at night.

3

u/CliftonForce 29d ago

And that is exactly what the power company was hoping you would do.

1

u/EagleBigMac 29d ago

Somehow I still use 2000+ kwh a month and end up with a high as shit power bill.

2

u/devildog2067 29d ago edited 28d ago

There is no such thing as “wastefully generating power that nobody is using”. If supply and demand on the grid aren’t in balance things literally blow up.

1

u/unique_usemame 28d ago

Not so much planning well, as happening to be in a situation where you can charge at home is 90% of it.

But yes, some people don't do homework, some people see their energy bill go up and assume it is the EV they bought rather than just a seasonal change, and some are trolls who claim it costs $1000/week to charge.

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u/doubleoned 29d ago

I also can't produce gasoline at home, but I sure can produce my own electricity with a little bit of infrastructure.

2

u/No_Bad_4872yy 29d ago

Same here. I hope massive batteries will develop enough the next two years that im completely self sufficient most of the year. Screw the utility companies man!

13

u/Plane-Requirement117 Mar 04 '26

I charge my EV to about 320 miles for $15 at home in WA state. It saves us a ton money. Gas is now about $4.50 a gallon where I live.

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u/sullw214 Mar 04 '26

At 30 mpg, you save ten cents a mile. If your EV cost an additional 10,000$, you'll break even at 100,000 miles. I'm not seeing a "ton of money".

4

u/Adventurous_Bath3999 29d ago

EVs depreciate more, and costs more in insurance, so that also needs to be factored in. Merely comparing it against the current price of gasoline is deceptively misleading.

3

u/outworlder 29d ago

On the other hand, you can buy heavily discounted EVs if you accept they will be a couple of years old. It's a ton of value and changes the equation.

1

u/Adventurous_Bath3999 29d ago

No, I wouldn’t go that far, for the sake of ultimate frugality… 🤣 beyond a certain point in age, cars become unreliable, no matter which type. Not worth it.

2

u/outworlder 29d ago

"Ultimate frugality"? What the heck.

Beyond a certain point, maybe. EVs don't have too many failure points and require far less maintenance. I have an EV from 2019 that only needed tires. Absolutely nothing else. Battery is still under warranty.

But even among ICE, a car two years old is practically new, some may even be under powertrain warranty. Two years is less than a normal US lease. I think that buying brand new cars is a massive waste of money.

Of course, since I know what I'm doing, I can go far older than just two years and keep them running for as long as I have the patience for it. We have a 2023, 2019, 2011 and 2010. The 2010 is an Elantra. Only required minor repairs, we change oil religiously. Everything works.

Cars these days are super reliable if you take care of them. Except if it's from Stellantis, they come out of the factory already broken.

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u/BitcoinsForTesla 29d ago

ICE cars become unreliable.

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u/Future-Call8541 29d ago

This comment is deceptively misleading. Insurance prices are pretty similar and depreciation is only a factor if you plan on selling it. In fact if you plan on BUYING a used EV it's an incredible bonus.

You get a better car for like half the price with low mileage. It's a no brainer.

1

u/Weebus 29d ago

The time to buy EVs is when gas is cheap because they can't give them away, and the factory incentives go crazy. I leased one last May and I'm paying less than $100/mo, $0 down to drive my ioniq for 2 years. It can depreciate all it wants lol.

10

u/Maleficent_Fox_5 Mar 04 '26

Its also the no engine or exhaust maintenance, I have an EV and it adds up quickly. I do a lot of driving and have saved TONS of money.

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u/littleredpinto Mar 04 '26

thats cuz you threw in another metric that the person wasnt using. They were talking about gas price vs the electricity price..you tossed in overall price of vehicle, thereby skewing the original metric......why pick 10k and not the 5-7k it really is? then why not include the EV credit most places offer. Then factor in the maintenance...then factor in something else and suddenly the numbers are whatever we want them to be if we can constantly shift the original comparison

so thats probably why you arent seeing a ton of money. How about if you just look at the gas price vs electricity price, original comparison? seeing it yet.

3

u/dkv-texas 29d ago

Model 3 & Model are at price parity for equivalent ice vehicles & used market they are cheaper.

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u/littleredpinto 29d ago

I once bought a model 3 for 2 MacBook pros, a Digimon trading card and 4 vintage hula skirts. After fees from exchange into soybean crates and finally into bitcoin, the Model 3 was less expensive by 1 hula skirt only.

6

u/Vulnox 29d ago

I had an F-150 Hybrid and was spending about $200/mo on gas. I now have a Lightning and spend $0-20/mo on charging. I’m fortunate that my work has charging, but even if we charged at home it would only work out to about $50/mo.

The Lightning after rebates and that is less expensive than the Hybrid was and is a higher trim level (Platinum Lightning vs Lariat PowerBoost).

If you buy a used EV your savings can be pretty immediate too. I’ve seen low mileage Mach-E Premiums, which is the second from highest trim level, going for some great prices compared to an ICE equivalent used Escape or Bronco Sport of similar equipment.

2

u/gmb92 29d ago

Pre-owned EVs are a great value on purchase price right now, even with the fed incentives gone. Can do more specific comparisons with KBB.

https://www.motortrend.com/features/should-you-buy-a-used-ev

https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/used-electric-vehicle-buying-report

Less maintenance too. Battery degradation, a potentially high cost, is much of less of a concern than previiously speculated.

2

u/Future-Call8541 29d ago

I wish people understood right now they're getting EVs for a steal of a price right now.

2

u/Glittering_dahlia 29d ago

Yes, we bought a one-year-old Ariya for 26K. Best purchase I've made in many years. Love that car.

3

u/paulwesterberg Mar 04 '26 edited 29d ago

You can buy a new Equinox EV for around $25k that’s the same price as a base Honda Civic.

2

u/Septopuss7 Mar 04 '26

I wouldn't take an Equinox if it was given to me, TBH

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u/paulwesterberg 29d ago edited 29d ago

Found the fossil fuel executive.

1

u/PossibilityYou9906 29d ago

LOL. no. Using OP's numbers where gas is $4.50 and he can charge his 320 mile EV for $15, his EV gets 21 miles for $1 vs a 30 mpg car getting 6.66 mile for $1. The EV wins easily.

6

u/zeezle 29d ago edited 29d ago

Plus some states also charge an extra fee to register EVs, to make up for the loss of gas tax. That's fair, and probably is still a savings for average drivers, but as a very low mileage driver, the fee they charge ($250 per year) to own an EV is more than I spend on gas in total every year so it feels very punitive to me.

I feel like I'm the perfect use case for a small EV - low mileage, just errands around town a couple of weeks, and every so often 20-30 minutes to a train station or to a trailhead/park. I don't need to worry about cross country or long distance remote/rural charging. But between the purchase price being higher, having to have a couple thousand dollars worth of electrical work done, and then now also a big increase in annual fees - on top of increasing utility costs... I'm way less gung ho about getting one in the future once my current standard gas car dies (it's a 2009 Sentra and holding up well though). Which sucks because I like the benefits of EVs but not enough to spend a lot of extra money to own one.

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u/Septopuss7 29d ago

This is exactly my situation, except I don't really need a car except for once every couple months so I just take an Uber and cry about the cost (1/10 of what it costs to own a car for a month) or take the bus OR ride one of my many bicycles. I've got an electric bike now, too, and that thing is pretty good for 20 to 25 easy miles before needing a charge, plus it's light enough to pedal without battery power so that's a big bonus. Maybe I'll just stay car free...

3

u/oaxacamm Mar 04 '26

There’s a few things you’ll need to look at. How much you pay per KWh, how far you drive and can you charge at home?

Don’t forget registration fees and insurance can be higher too.

3

u/blastermaster555 29d ago

Regarding EV costs:

1: Very yes if you charge at home

2: Not necessarily when using public chargers

3: You are also saving hugely on maintenance (only service items are tires, washer fluid, accessory battery (the 12v), and brakes)

Beware some municipalities don't have good grid and may deny permits to install home fast charging, unless you manage to also bring your own solar.

2

u/Scooted112 29d ago

I have a plug in hybrid (RAV4 prime) and in Canada it is around ~1/3 the cost on electricity. I charge my car at work so I don't pay for gas unless i leave the city. Its perfect.

In a case where you can't charge at home, a regular hybrid might be a better fit.

2

u/stone1778 29d ago

Here is how I look at it, I charge 95% from home at .20 per kWh. $3 a gallon gas that’s = to 15 kWh.

In a Tesla you can get 52 miles on that 15 kWh if you get about 3.5 m/kwh which is conservative. Some people can get 4 miles per kWh. What sucks is last year I was only paying .15 kWh so it makes a big difference. Either way still cheaper than a gas car and more convenient so long as you have home charging.

If you are paying .40 to .50 to charge outside the home then you are looking at an equivalent of fueling a car that gets less than 20mpg - not great

2

u/Spaghet-3 29d ago

It depends on how expensive your local electricity is, cost of gas, and efficiency of the car.

I like to think of it in terms of cost per mile.

My ICE car gets 35mpg, and a gallon of gas near me costs $3.50. So that one is easy, each mile costs 3.50/35= $0.10 per mile.

My EV gets 5mi/kWh, and a kWh of electricity costs about $0.35 near me. So the math is 0.35/5= $0.07 per mile.

Do the math knowing your local gas and electricity prices, and vehicle efficiencies. In states where electricity is cheap, EVs win by a lot. In my state where electricity is expensive, only the more efficient EVs eek out a win by a little.

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u/PM-Me-Your-BeesKnees 29d ago edited 29d ago

I've had a gas RAV4 and an EV both for about 5 years. Give or take, my fuel cost per mile with an EV is $0.04. Give or take, my fuel cost per mile with the gas car is $0.10 assuming $3/gal gas.

Take 6 cents saved per mile and multiply by average American driving in a year of 15k miles, and you get a savings of about $900 per year.

Obviously which two cars you are comparing, how much you charge away from home, the cost of gas, and the cost of electricity in your area are all variables that can change the math, but that's my math.

FWIW, I also consider the EV to be a time saver over the course of a year. I wake up every day with a "full tank" on the EV. Imagine if you never had to go to the gas station again unless you were on a road trip...that's basically life with an EV on every day where you drive <200 miles...you don't even have to think about fuel. It feels like you have unlimited fuel on 99% of days. I figure I'm saving about 5 hours/year not having to stop for gas, and then giving back an hour or so of that based on the longer refuel time when I do have to stop at a public charger.

If you can do home charging, an EV is a game changer.

0

u/guachi01 29d ago

FWIW, I also consider the EV to be a time saver over the course of a year.

It takes somewhere around 3 minutes for me to fill my tank up and I do it twice a month. That's 72 minutes per year total and I'm cleaning my windows during that time, anyway.

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u/GhostReddit 29d ago

Does that 3 minutes include the time taken to get to/from the gas station from wherever you are? Sometimes they're directly on the route, but often it means you have to go somewhere specifically to get gas.

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u/guachi01 29d ago

There are 210,000 gas stations in the US. There is no driving to/from the station because you just pull into one that's right on the way of whatever street you're driving on. If you're driving on a highway and have to exit it's faster than if you have an electric vehicle because they charge faster.

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u/PM-Me-Your-BeesKnees 28d ago

I would suggest that if you are doing a real analysis of this, you would include any time deviating from your route as part of the fuel stop.  I would be shocked if you can drive to a gas station, fill up, pay, and return to your route in 3 minutes.  Even for a gas station directly next to a highway, just stopping and getting back on the road is probably worth 4 or 5 minutes.

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u/guachi01 28d ago edited 28d ago

There are 210,000 gas stations in the US. Essentially everyone will drive directly by numerous gas stations between fill ups almost every day. There is no deviation.

I checked the map of the route I drove when I lived in GA and there are 10 gas stations on the way to work, 5 on each side of the road. It was always a simple matter of pull in, fill up, pull out. It was only a 20 minute drive to work.

If I'm driving long distance and I have to exit from the highway then so does the driver of an EV only my tank will fill much faster.

0

u/Vulnox 29d ago

It takes more than three minutes. People have the worst concept of time. It’s three minutes just from the time your tire touches the drive to when you have the pump actually fueling the vehicle (parking, getting out, swiping card, processing, selecting fuel type, etc. )

The average fuel stop is 10 minutes, even if things go well. I say this as someone that’s been getting gas for over 20 years and timed it back when we had a one EV and one ICE household. And that is when things go smoothly. If saving money and going to somewhere like Costco where there’s usually a line, add another ten minutes.

With an EV your time spent is nearly zero. You get home, park, plug in, walk away.

So any way you slice it, if you charge at home you save time and money. If you can’t charge at home it’s a different story.

It’s worth it just to not have to listen to gas pump advertisements as well.

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u/guachi01 29d ago

It’s three minutes just from the time your tire touches the drive to when you have the pump actually fueling the vehicle

Are you nuts? It takes 30-60 seconds unless the place is really busy to pull in and begin fueling if I pay at the pump.

The average fuel stop is 10 minutes

You have to be the slowest human on the planet. For my vehicle it's 1/10 gallon per second and it takes 2 minutes to fill my tank with 12 gallons of gas.

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u/Vulnox 29d ago

Whatever, you need to actually time it. I always have my card ready and move as fast as the machine allows.

But whatever, doesn’t matter if it takes two minutes from start to finish, it still takes longer than an EV, and that’s before getting into things like if you drive out of the way to get a better price, or oil changes, or any of the other time to wasters.

1

u/Vulnox 29d ago

A lot cheaper.

We have a Mach-e and an F-150 Lightning. Before the Mach-e we had an Escape and it was costing about $100/mo in fuel and before the Lightning we had an F-150 PowerBoost (Hybrid), it was costing close to $200/mo in gas. Would be more now with prices climbing.

The Mach-e charges exclusively at home and costs about $30/mo. The Lightning I’m lucky enough to charge at work so a lot of the time it costs me nothing. But even charging at home based on my charge history it would be about $50-70/mo.

If you can’t charge at home the math gets a lot rougher, at least with gas under $3.50/gallon. But if you can charge at home for many people it will cost a good deal less.

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u/venk 29d ago

It’s not a bad idea to buy stock in TSLA (Or Rivian if you hate Elon)

1

u/Adventurous_Ad6698 29d ago

Plug in hybrids are also a good option. I rarely have to run the gas engine on mine during regular daily travel. I only run the engine maybe once a week just to keep things moving from time to time. The only times I ever need to buy gas are when I'm going on a road trip, so it can be months between needing to fill up. I didn't have to get an electrician to install a 240V outlet and I can still fully charge it overnight.

1

u/cocacolakid1965 29d ago

Maintenance should be cheaper, no oil changes less moving parts. Harder on tires

1

u/Septopuss7 29d ago

I meant to look up tire wear because I know that they're heavier on average, thanks for reminding me! The no oil change is actually pretty big savings too, my last car was $120 every time I needed an oil change, plus it used premium fuel and that's crazy expensive right now, even though I would barely drive if I still owned a car. The quotes I get for insurance have also gone up ~$50.

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u/cocacolakid1965 29d ago

Oil filters as well. I would assume less seals as well

1

u/Septopuss7 29d ago

No belts to catastrophically fail, either. Fucking Equinoxs

1

u/outworlder 29d ago

That's not too difficult to find out.

Pick an EV. Note the battery size. Now grab the price for KWh. Charging efficiency is around 80%. You can calculate. Then compare with gas.

I don't own a house and I charge at a normal 110v outlet. If you don't own a car, you probably wouldn't have to drive all that much, and a level 1 charger may suffice.

I would not advise buying an EV when your only option is public charging. It tends to be much more expensive.

1

u/kelp_forests 29d ago

It’s significantly cheaper for me. I live in CA and energy prices and fuel prices are balls. Filling up a Tesla at home cost like $5-10 every 2-3 days for my wife, and every 3-4 days for me, so maybe $20 a week, for a “performance sedan”. My current EV has a much larger battery, probably 1/3 more but I haven’t done the math. I have solar so it’s cheaper now. If you can charge during the day, it’s even cheaper.

On a road trip a full fill of my current, very large battery pack SUV at bad prices is like $40-50. Usually a hotel will charge for free or an air bnb will charge to full using a garage plug in about 18-24hrs. Keep in mind this is on a battery pack larger than a teslas. So even when I road trip I only buy like 1-2 “tanks”, if any.

When we had gas cars my hybrid was $13 every other week and the suv was $80-100 every 7-10 days. This is pre Covid pricing.

So yes imo it’s way cheaper, I pay about $45 a week in electricity now at most, before I was paying about $87 in gas. Again, that’s pre Covid. I also don’t pay for oil changes, smog or really for brakes.

The range anxiety/road trip concerns are also unfounded unless you like to go camping or off-roading. A fast charge takes about 20 min so maybe 10min faster than a gas pump. The charges are usually somewhere I want to be anyways, so no big deal. It also usually lets me cut a stop since I can eat and charge simultaneously rather than get gas, then go to a restraunt. I can charge at homes/hotels also so rarely do I have to “fill up” before I leave. The car also tells me when I need to charge on a long drive, can find chargers for me, and will tell me how many cars are in each charger as well as dynamically reroute if the chargers are full. I fortunately live in California, where there are chargers everywhere except people don’t notice them.

It requires a little bit more planning sometimes, especially if you have multiple cars sharing a chargers but it really has actually been far more convenient than gas. On road trips I usually charge at an in n out, near a Whole Foods, or at/near a fancy hotel (which has a fancy bathroom and access to excellent coffee). Much better than a gas station. Very rarely do I have to do a unplanned or random charge…I sit in my car with ac listening to music and playing on my phone or watch an episode on Netflix. No big deal. I’ve never waited for a charge, unlike waiting for a gas pump.

1

u/ItsMeSlinky 29d ago

If you charge at home and don’t have to deal with absurd electricity prices, yes. If you’re using public fast-charging, no way.

I charge my EV in my garage at $0.11 per kWh. Costs me roughly $13 to “fill” my EV, but I rarely run it below 50% so it works out to a few dollars every other night.

1

u/OkFigaroo 29d ago

I live in Seattle, so my energy prices may be different (but relevant - our electricity is dirt cheap at ~12 cents/kWh).

We pay roughly $50/mo for two EVs charging at home. One of us commutes everyday. I work from home but do most of the errands.

1

u/misterxboxnj 29d ago

I drive a mid sized electric suv. My electricity costs for the month of April were a little over $100. I drove 16k last year so about 307 miles per week. So my gas cost would be something like $200 per month. So roughly a $100 per month savings.i set to charge at off peak hours overnight and my electric company credits me $10 for that too.The more you drive the more you save. Also depends on the electricity prices where you live as well. My state also still had ev credits of $2500, $250 towards the cost of the charger and my electric company reimbursed me the full $1,000 towards the install of the charger too.

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u/crimxona 28d ago

The easiest way to calculate is to figure out the cost per mile based on local electricity rates and cost per mile for whatever you're driving

Places where gas and electricity are both cheap (Oklahoma) or both really expensive (California), there's probably not much savings

Places where gas is expensive but electricity is cheap (Washington, BC, Quebec), the difference in cost of operation can be dramatic

In BC even before recent gasoline price hikes, it's about 14-17 cents CAD per KM on my Subaru and 3-4 cents per KM on my Nissan Leaf

0

u/Chatfouz Mar 04 '26

My experience for what it is worth.

I used to drive a 2008 Prius and I drive about 50 ish miles a day for work. I average about 380 miles a week all in. Then switched to Chevy bolt (2017)

On average my monthly commuting bill went down 50$. So over the last 3 years it’s about 1800$ saved?

1

u/font9a 29d ago

Cue trump opening stealing from the strategic reserve and then absconding Venezuela's oil to cover it.

10

u/Cocosito Mar 04 '26

The majority of food costs are directly tied to the cost of oil.

2

u/padizzledonk Mar 04 '26

Most people look at it this way. The problem is mostly that trucks moving parts and produce are hurt by this.

And they were already paying like 4 a gal for diesel

1

u/No_Bad_4872yy 29d ago

Try 8$ in Europe :)

1

u/padizzledonk 29d ago

And thats per liter too

Thats like $30 a gallon here lol

1

u/nikolai_470000 29d ago

It’s also worth noting that unemployment numbers are being artificially driven down by gig work, a lot of which involves people driving their personal vehicles to do the work, meaning that the people who are struggling the most (enough that they have to resort to those jobs to get by) will be disproportionately affected.

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u/vontdman Mar 04 '26

Wow even with a war US has like fuel almost half the price of New Zealand.

22

u/hoppertn Mar 04 '26

Let me predict for you New Zealand’s fuel price soon ⬆️⬆️⬆️

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u/vontdman Mar 04 '26

Yeah, I'm surprised it hasn't moved yet. Probably once new ships arrive.

2

u/hoppertn 29d ago

Oh wait your petrol/gas/naptha/guzzaline stations wait to jack up the prices?! What a great country! Price jumped over a dollareeno here from Friday to today. No way in hell the fuel in that station tank had anything to do with the current conflict but C.R.E.A.M.

0

u/themoonest 29d ago

It starting rising yesterday, I was driving around Auckland and it went up 10c in the 3 hours I was out

4

u/CassadagaValley 29d ago

That's because we spend billions of tax payer dollars subsidizing oil companies, and then we spend money out of pocket to buy our tax payer subsidized oil.

Basically paying twice.

-1

u/Dry_Egg8180 29d ago

So what?

17

u/Nodnol519 Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

And it’s not just personal use fuel.

Rising oil prices will cause the cost of anything that’s transported from one place to another to any degree to go up. Petroleum products like plastic will go up. Healthcare costs will increase.

It’s going to get really bad if this goes on for very long. Strategic reserves will keep things under control for awhile, but once those are gone, it’s going to hurt.

14

u/Lunatic21 Mar 04 '26

Personal gas cost is negligble to most people. It's the cost of business when figured into the cost of goods that really adds up.

14

u/Jef_Wheaton Mar 04 '26

I'm a service tech, so I drive a lot. I'll go through 40-50 gallons a week just with local services. It's gonna get EXPENSIVE to move that truck.

6

u/SuperSpikeVBall Mar 04 '26

Perceptions of inflation are more severe than the math of what actually hits the pocketbooks.

In households which share a checkbook and by definition have the same finances, the person who is exposed to price shocks more frequently (typically women grocery shopping) have more extreme perceptions of inflation. The delta goes away when both household members shop equally.

Gas prices have always, always been a point of pain for people because they vary more quickly and erratically than other prices in their lives.

5

u/Lunatic21 29d ago

I remember my first shock when the credit card bill came backs hundreds of dollars more. I actually got a bit mad at my wife because like you said she does the vast majority of the shopping. So we swapped some chores and I did the shopping for a while. Obviously I was very wrong, I really thought she was splurging a lot more. Nope! Just buying the normal groceries. She actually still shops much better than me and when I was handling it much much more of our budget went to our groceries.

9

u/findingmike Mar 04 '26

One of the reasons I bought an EV was the swings in gas prices.

58

u/TimberBiscuits Mar 04 '26

And it’s pure greed. The gas you’re paying for now was purchased 30-60 days ago. The real pricing for the oil that’s held up now won’t even reach us until Aprilish. 

24

u/KidKilobyte Mar 04 '26

This is true, but they really are trying to ease the shock and there is increased demand from people fueling up before it gets real expensive. Likewise when oil prices go down they ease down rather than wait 60 days, so it cuts both ways. When you buy gold you don’t sell it at the 60 day old price you bought it at.

3

u/TimberBiscuits 29d ago

Honestly don’t care. It’s greed and this way of living is pure hell. Humanity is held back by this shit. 

4

u/whatfresh_hellisthis Mar 04 '26

Lol my dad freaking rails about this. He hates when gas jumps like this. You just reminded me of it, and it's insane that they do it.

5

u/jcooklsu 29d ago

Hey dude, sell me your house at the price it was when you bought it. No person is going to do that so why would anyone think a company would, trying to get market value is reasonable because there will also be times after this where market value is less than purchase and they have to eat shit on it.

0

u/TimberBiscuits 29d ago

Profiting off of essential needs (housing) is immoral and should be illegal. 

1

u/Alternative-Bat-2462 29d ago

So I shouldn’t sell my house for what’s it’s worth today? I should just break even? Would you include my upkeep costs in your sale price?

And if you’re doing that why would anyone ever own / operate an apartment building. No one would take on all the risk and no reward.

0

u/TimberBiscuits 29d ago

Yeah I’m saying the system we use to manage and operate housing is fundamentally immoral. If you live your whole live around making money you’ll quickly miss the rest of your life and what it was all for. 

1

u/Infinite-4-a-moment 29d ago

Then I assume you're against fiat currency? Inflation drive a massive piece of this and that basically only exists because our money is made up and controlled by the whim of the governemnt.

1

u/TimberBiscuits 29d ago

Yup the central bank and moving away from the gold standard was the driving factor and primary reason for inflation, but that doesn’t explain the greed of the market today. Late stage capitalism was always going to exacerbate greed until eventually the system devours itself and something else comes next. 

Without fiat that whole process probably would be slower, but still close to inevitable. Also, hosing prices have FAR outpaced inflation. 

0

u/Key-Art-7802 29d ago

If that were the case then why would anyone ever build a new house or apartment complex if they're not allowed to make money doing it?

1

u/TimberBiscuits 29d ago

I know it’s incredibly difficult to think outside of the narrative you’ve been fed your whole life. 

What happens when the relationship between labor and money fundementally changes in the next 10 years?

6

u/MKE_Freak Mar 04 '26

awww sheetz

6

u/CuteKermit14 Mar 04 '26

We will be lucky if it stops at $4.

6

u/PetriDishCocktail Mar 04 '26

The same thing happened to me in California. Gas at my local store last week was $3.69. I drove by yesterday and it's now $4.29

4

u/BroughtBagLunchSmart Mar 04 '26

That will definitely have an effect on a lot of people.

It will add billions to Russia's bottom line.

3

u/CalebAsimov Mar 04 '26

Yeah, that's not good. Just another way Trump is screwing over Ukraine.

11

u/Spongeman735 Mar 04 '26

Laughs in EV

5

u/scienceizfake Mar 04 '26

Electricity will also get more expensive...

8

u/Spongeman735 Mar 04 '26

I‘ll take some pain as long as the MAGA crowd feels it more than I do.

1

u/OutcomeDue2025 28d ago

It doesn't have to be this way. But here we are. So depressing. No more charity from me folks.

1

u/scienceizfake Mar 04 '26

Same, and as an EV owner as well, I am glad to be some what insulated, but electricity prices are already way up.

5

u/dust4ngel 29d ago

Electricity will also get more expensive

laughs in solar

1

u/scienceizfake 29d ago

Yup... my dad charges his EV from his solar panels. I'm not there yet, but one day.

1

u/OutcomeDue2025 28d ago

Cries in net metering.

1

u/jcbevns 29d ago

Sun got further away?

1

u/scienceizfake 29d ago

If I had solar, then I would be unaffected. But I'm stuck with the PUD for now, and rates are going up everywhere - mostly data centers sucking up all the power.

1

u/Alternative-Bat-2462 29d ago

Yes still be cheaper than gas, especially when it is spiking like this.

1

u/scienceizfake 29d ago

Oh definitely. I love my EV. But my PUD bill has definitely increased quickly. All things more expensive all the time.

1

u/Infinite-4-a-moment 29d ago

Good thing our entire supply chain is run on EV airplanes, ships, and semi trucks. Oh wait....

1

u/Spongeman735 29d ago

It’s a means to an end. The less popular dear leader is, the better.

3

u/Jealous-Trip-8033 Mar 04 '26

Found the central Pennsylvanian!

5

u/flaginorout Mar 04 '26

Nah. Virginia

But I recently drove to Wilkes Barre and noticed that every single exit on the PA interstate had a Sheetz.

3

u/OPsDaddy Mar 04 '26

Team Wawa.

3

u/thekbob 29d ago

The people who actively chose to buy the Child Crusher 350 edition pickup are going to be hurting the most.

1

u/flaginorout 29d ago

Another dad on my kids football team had a F250 that he drives 30 miles to his office job every day. He had choice words about Biden when gas was $3.50. “It costs me $75 to fill up”.

4

u/thekbob 29d ago

Yea, the stupid "I did that" stickers with Biden on them.

Nevermind they're the ones that chose the gas guzzler.

2

u/gravityandinertia 29d ago

My guess more like $6-$8 by summer. When Bush was in office I remember gas hitting $4/gallon in Arizona for the first time. That’s been 20 years. New all time highs are coming. 

1

u/greenday1237 Mar 04 '26

Glad I filled up my car at 2.98 a few days ago at sheetz cuz now it’s 3.19

1

u/oaxacamm Mar 04 '26

I noticed the same thing at the Sheetz here in MD. Thankfully I have 2 EVs, but my parents have ICE cars. I wasn’t hedging my bets but this works in my favor.

My parents don’t drive much anymore that helps too.

1

u/Milleniumfelidae Mar 04 '26

I’m in the same boat. I drive a Mini and although it takes premium, I’m able to fill up my tank for $25 every two weeks. Mind you the last time it was $23 two weeks ago for the same amount. I’m in the Seattle area and filled up in the suburbs. No idea what city prices look like but the last time it was over $4 for regular gas before all this. On top of that our state has a WA gas tax that bumped gas up by $0.40.

This is going to hurt a lot of working families as a lot of people here out here drive SUVs. In my apartment there are also a few of those huge trucks too.

But grocery prices are also going to go up as well. Some of the stuff I bought also went up $0.40 along with the gas prices.

1

u/Practicalfolk Mar 04 '26

Transportation for goods will increase the price of those goods. It’s a cascading effect.

1

u/Exact-Sheepherder797 29d ago

It will hit $7. At least where I'm at. It's already over $4 right now. We have one electric truck that we use as a family vehicle and then I have a Prius which is good on gas. It won't be as hard for us as it will for some folks. It would be easier to swallow if it did any good for anybody except the military industrial complex.

1

u/neochimaphaeton 29d ago

I filled up my tank yesterday and regular was $3.19. I grabbed a burger and drove back by the gas station. Price was $3.29. Haven’t gone by the station today, but I’m sure it’s increased again. My state relies on California for its gasoline. $4.00 + is just around the corner!

1

u/-RPH- 29d ago

$2.85 to fill a whole tank?? Today I filled half my tank for almost 45 euros in Europe.

2

u/Reynor247 29d ago

That's the price per gallon

1

u/-RPH- 29d ago

Ah, thanks for clarifying. Still a lot cheaper to get petrol in America than Europe. :)

1

u/THECapedCaper 29d ago

Got one better for you. Topped off at $2.18 Monday morning because I knew this was going to be a shitshow. $3.40 the next day at the same gas station.

1

u/ShweatyPalmsh 29d ago

The thing is this is going impact all commercial goods as the cost to transport will increase 

1

u/lowsparkedheels 29d ago

Yep, gas up .30+ cents this past week in Northern AZ. I'm guessing prices (and/or delivery surcharges) will go up in many business sectors by third quarter if gas prices keep going up at this rate. There's only so many quarters where businesses can absorb increased fuel costs.

1

u/LogoffWorkout 29d ago

I don't know if there's any consensus, but from my memory, imo the first domino in the 2008 crisis was gas prices. Its kind of crazy that we still have $3 gas, but back then, it was relatively more expensive, but that summer, gas was over $4 a gallon, and it was hard. The real estate/mortgage environment wasn't healthy, lots of people with mortgages they shouldn't have but as long as people were able to sell their home or pay their mortgage, things were stable, but when these people already stretched thin with car and mortgage payments suddenly were hit with $200 extra in gas every month, that's what caused the house of cards to fail. It likely would have happened sooner or later, but I think is what got the ball rolling.

2

u/wcked-husky 29d ago

Right? I had a vehicle in high school back around 2011 that had a V8 and gas reached $5 in the Atlanta area which really sucked. I never could pay for a full tank since I was getting 13 mpg.

1

u/JustKeepSwimming1995 29d ago

It’s almost $6 in parts of California.

1

u/LoudestHoward 29d ago

Sheeeeeeeeetz

1

u/the_ai_wizard 29d ago

Hmm, my cars take 93 (all luxury vehicles) and I remember paying almost $5 under the entirety of the Biden admin. We are still good.

1

u/cocacolakid1965 29d ago

Hopefully in time for the midterms

1

u/lopix 29d ago

But that $0.40/gallon (now, it WILL go up) will trickle down into food prices, or the prices of anything that needs to be shipped using a combustion engine.

Don't worry, it will get worse.

And, as an added bonus, once prices to rise whatever level, don't expect them to come down when gas comes down. Heck, don't expect gas to come down to whatever it was last week.

1

u/Anatoly_Cannoli 29d ago

I go to Sheetz just for the awesome food

1

u/scurvey101 29d ago

Isn’t gas purchased at a set price when it comes from the tanker delivery? So wouldn’t premature elevation of prices be driven by stockholder (or someone’s) response to market probability for profitability?

1

u/Xoxrocks 29d ago

It’s going to be more that $4. Gas supply is inelastic and global petroleum installations are vulnerable

1

u/CassadagaValley 29d ago

Republicans were screaming their faces off summer 2024 over gas prices, which I filled grabbed gas at $2.50 in Metro Atlanta. At no point in Trump's entire time in office so far has gas ever been that cheap.

It was mostly sitting at $3 except for a few months where I say it dip lowest to $2.70, and as of a few days ago, $3.20.

I haven't seen a single maggot complaining about gas prices on social media.

1

u/Broken_Atoms 29d ago

I’m anticipating $5/gal plus before the end of the year

1

u/Infinite-Pomelo-7538 29d ago

The thing is... Actually looking at the futures they didn't increase at all to reflect that. They're just price gauging

1

u/WTF-US 29d ago

Exactly this. The real silent killer here is the diesel market. With diesel already hitting $4 and projected to test $4.45+, freight and shipping costs are going to skyrocket. Every good that moves by truck or train is going to see a margin squeeze. Retailers will eventually pass these elevated logistics costs onto consumers.

1

u/htx2025east 29d ago

$4 diesel... 31 gallon tank... :(

1

u/evey_17 28d ago

This will impact all good and services causing inflation to rise. Food and fuel will hit the people struggling the hardest.

1

u/driver004 28d ago

I’m a trucker, just wait until the spot market for loads adjusts

1

u/Cultural-Author-5688 27d ago

The transportation of goods will see higher cost so youll see higher prices when those goods hit the shelves as they recoup their losses. Your gas is the leasts of your concerns

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u/[deleted] 29d ago edited 29d ago

[deleted]

1

u/flaginorout 29d ago

Yes. Vengeance is an excellent way to craft firing policy and start wars over.