Cost of gas

Good info on some of those issues here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2IKCdnzl5k

 

Haha, I was in Big Sur this weekend and gas was $7.35 a gallon. Granted, those are remote mountain prices but it gives me a chuckle when people complain about gas prices.

 

I use fuelly when I remember to log miles and like the charts.
Prices have held steady around $3.30.
Prices have been rising but I try to drive more consciously, stock up when I find a good deal, pay in cash (10+ cents cheaper sometimes), use points, absolutely NO unessesary idling, and travel as light as possible. I've seen a positive difference in mpg and cost by doing this. If I lived closer to a non-ethanol station I bet I could see a tad better bump in mpgs by filling up there.
A pro and con for me is my job slows down in winter so I drive much less than I do in the summer.

 

I wouldn't bet on it. But then, we can't touch on politics on TW.

 

Historically it has been strong regardless of what political party is in control.

 

Well, here in the Northeast they've been toying with this TCI (Transportation Climate Initiative). The long-term goal is to reduce the amount of petroleum-based fuel allowed into the market year-by-year. Guess what that'll do to prices ...

 

Terminology, typical bastardization of English. Gasoline is a liquid not a gas. Should be called fuel, or gasoline.

Awaiting

 

There has been some discussion on gas tax here... don't think for one second the state won't get it's money if you switch to electric.

In Oregon there is an abundance of fuel efficient cars/EV as people make the switch. The state realized that revenues were decreasing as people are buying less gas... so what did they do - increase registration costs for fuel efficient vehicles. Now - I realize that registering a Tesla (on the surface) doesn't look like it costs much more but you need to do the math.

Difference in registration between Tacoma and Tesla or any EV for that matter ($316-$126 = $190)
Divide by gas tax to find out how many gallons of gas you buy before the cost of registration cancels ($190/$0.38/gallon = 500 gallons)
How many miles does that equate to before the cost of a registering a Tesla offsets the distance you can drive? (500gal * 18mpg = 9000 miles <-- a lot of people (myself included) do not drive this distance per year)

Now there is also a program that allows the gov to monitor how many miles you drive and pay a fee ($0.018/mile driven) that is offset by the any fuel tax you pay throughout the year. This lowers EV registration costs but I for one don't want to be involved in a program like that - plus EV cars don't get any rebate for fuel tax. **If you drive roughly 12,500 miles per year with your EV this program doesn't pay off anyway**

One of the other components to this is that people never talk about what actually tears up the road. Weight. Generally (yes this is a blanket statement) EV's weigh more than an equivalently sized ICE vehicle. In theory, they cause more destruction to the road surface for every mile they drive - so should they pay more or less road tax if the money is earmarked for fixing roads?

This discussion has been beaten to death before and there are numerous articles about pros/cons...etc. I personally think that electric motors are great for technological advances in vehicle performance, both power and fuel efficiency.

 

*fuel

 

I got premium for $3.99 at Costco a couple weeks back. Here in North Orange County SoCal the ripoff stations (Chevron, Shell) are averaging $4.95ish. My daily driver only needed gas 3x this year so the cost doesn't much matter to me. I average 15k mikes a year & Fuelly doesn't like when I get over 3k miles on a tank so it just inserts a blank line. Most recent tank was 4,400 miles.

 

Depends where you live in connecticut. I've found gas is far cheaper down near the shoreline. Its $3.59 a gal. where i live. I often take the back roads a couple miles into ma. to do some shopping, and fill up while there, its a about a dime less per gallon for regular.

 

LOL!! Good old Gorda, CA! It doesn't always get reported that way but that's usually the highest gas price in the Nation. That's my backyard playground on my Yamaha Sport/Tour. I live pretty close. It's always a giggle to top off at Shell in Cambria and ride up to Gorda and hang out for a bit to watch the "planning deficient" travelers stop to fuel. Typically though, it's Harley riders so it's not quite as painful just buying 4 gallons or so as opposed to filling up a Taco! I've been there a whole bunch of times but I don't think I've ever bought fuel. I have a 6.5 gal tank an at 28-32mpg depending on how spirited I roll, I can put some serious miles down and quite comfortably.

Edit: I'm not going any further than this anecdotal comment as being a CA resident pretty much my entire life and experiencing what has become of this state, I'll be that guy getting the Ban Hammer, soooooo.........c-ya!

 

We are pretty close. Could be if we wanted to, but that is WHY gas prices are high. If the national average falls below about $3/gallon we can buy oil from overseas cheaper than we can produce it ourselves.

 

A per month cost will vary wildly by miles driven, individual MPGs and fuel costs. Not sure you'll learn much from that.

A constant that everyone has though is cost per gallon of fuel used.

Here Costco Tier 1 regular is 2.999 currently.

Street price for almost all other brands in the area is 3.199

In other news, I did hear that Cali was considering a CO2 tax based on an individuals lung capacity and exchange efficiency.

Any truth to that?

 

luckily for us, we all have an oil well in our back yards and can pump straight into our gas tanks.
edit: funny thing is that my profile pic actually did have a well behind me as i took it.

 

Going back in my iPhone app (checkbook register), Between January 1 2021 - December 31 2021: I averaged approx $180 / month. But fuel prices in northern CA have increased quite a bit during 2021, and so later in the year I was spending more $$ for the same amount of gas.

Just for giggles, gas in my area is currently right around $4.70/gal for 87 Octane. My most recent fill up cost me just over $80 for 15+ gallons