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Gas Prices

calamity

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Filled up for $2.25 per gallon this afternoon. I was pretty happy about that. Will it last?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/11/16/gas-prices-decline-lift-spending-economy/2005708002/

Falling oil and gasoline prices should deliver an early Christmas present to holiday shoppers and the economy in coming weeks, lifting consumption by a few billion dollars a month, economists say.

At the same time, sliding crude prices will hobble a resurgent U.S. oil industry, analysts say, but that will only partly offset the overall benefits for the economy.

“It’s going to put more money in consumers’ (pocketbooks) to spend on other goods and services,” economist Chris Lafakis of Moody’s analytics says.

I figure my tank fill-up cost about $10 less than what I paid about a month ago.
 
Stupid gas. I cant wait till Hydrogen power takes off.
 
While it's nice to pay less for anything, gas included, I've never quite understood Americans' ebullience over drops in gas prices.

FWIW, gas prices generally fall in the fall and winter.

National-Average-Gas-Prices-November-13-2017.png
 
In general, prices drop during times of peak travel (Thanksgiving, Christmas, summer break, etc) This is to encourage people to go ahead and take their trips so they spend more overall.

It suits me fine, though. 3 trucks on the road at work and I have to send them around a 50 mile radius multiple times per day. Makes a much bigger difference to me than $10.
 
Stupid gas. I cant wait till Hydrogen power takes off.
Hydrogen is the most abundant element in our universe and could revolutionize the entire energy industry, but it is still in it’s infancy (for practical purposes) and there are many issues to overcome including research cost, cost of building supporting infrastructure, and real safety concerns with the potential for fire/explosion.

Another possibility, Electric Vehicles (EV’s) have come a long way since their inception more than a century ago, with most advances over the last 20+ years. EV vehicles such as Tesla, Chevy Volt, and a handful of others are becoming more common, but they are still a long ways away from becoming as ubiquitous as IC vehicles.

Those of us already of driving age will likely not live long enough to see a major shift away from fossil fuels.
 
Living abroad, gas costs me about $3.52 per gallon, which means I spend about $10 a month on gas. Both my motorcycles are just 150cc.
When I left the U.S. gas was under $1 per gallon.
 
One way to deal with rising fuel prices is to use more efficient vehicles.
We own a very large and very heavy vehicle.
It's a three ton monstrosity, a handicap equipped Chrysler Pacifica van.
Ninety percent of all Pacificas sold are actually HYBRIDS which boast up to 40 mpg hwy.

The handicap equipped versions cannot be hybrids however because the dropped floor makes the battery option impossible, and the handicap ramp and other amenities add about 750 pounds to the overall weight.
Thus our non-hybrid was sold to us with an advertised EPA fuel economy rating of 14 city/18 hwy.
However, coming into Kingman, AZ the other night, this was our AVERAGE fuel economy at 74 miles per hour on a level road.

Pacifica Gas Mileage AZ.jpg

And we averaged about 26 mpg during the entire trip from Los Angeles to Tulsa and back.
We did a professional engine break-in period, we use top grade synthetic oil and premium or mid-premium gasoline, low rolling resistance tires and 45 psi inflation with nitrogen instead of air. Of course, at higher altitudes our fuel economy suffered and it got down to around 22 mpg hwy.

Still, not bad for a six thousand pound vehicle. Nowhere near the efficiency of my daughter's GM Volt but still pretty good.
 
In general, prices drop during times of peak travel (Thanksgiving, Christmas, summer break, etc) This is to encourage people to go ahead and take their trips so they spend more overall.

It suits me fine, though. 3 trucks on the road at work and I have to send them around a 50 mile radius multiple times per day. Makes a much bigger difference to me than $10.

Red:
That isn't the progression gas prices take; they increase in the summer. (See post 5's linked content) That gas prices are lower at T-giving and X-mas than they are in the summer is a matter of those two holidays circumstantially occurring during fall/winter periods, not because more/many people travel on and around those days.
 
Gas prices in California rising above $4 a gallon. While the national average is around $2.50
 
Gas prices in California rising above $4 a gallon. While the national average is around $2.50

Sounds like a good reason to move.
 
I'm lucky enough that I haven't really had to worry about gas prices in a while, but I do spend a bit more than a lot of people because both of my cars are tuned up turbos. i usually spend around $3.00 to $3.50 a gallon.
 
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