Why are gas prices so high (and why do they keep climbing)?

D

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The San Francisco Bay Area is well-known for having the most expensive gas in the United States. That's in part due to California's strict emissions regulations, but it's also due to the SF Bay Area being a wealthy area and gas companies raising prices here simply because they can. And indeed, they are moving toward $5/gallon here.

But prices are rising across the nation. In conservative circles, the blame resides squarely with Biden, particularly his cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline project and stricter regulation of drilling permits.

What do you think is causing the rise in gas prices? What have you read about the causes? Is it all Biden's fault?

Historically, a rise in gas prices has been followed by a war in the Middle East. So...keep an eye out for that.
 
D

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That's literally all anyone is saying, but I suspect it's more complicated than that. ;)
 

Herdfan

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That's literally all anyone is saying, but I suspect it's more complicated than that. ;)

It is. Much more. Simple answer is because demand was down during the pandemic, then things opened back up and supplies have yet to catch up with demand. Fall is when prices should be getitng cheaper with the switch to winter blends, but CA allows summer blends to be sold to the end of October vs September 15 when the rest of the country can start selling them. So that may be part of it.

Biden will be to blame at some point, but not now. His energy policies will create higher prices in a couple of years, and the effects of shutting Keystone XL down will be felt in 5-10 years.
 

SuperMatt

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Can be tough for renters, who aren’t in control the way homeowners are.
Yes I’m lucky my condo has a spot to plug in. Not everybody is in a situation where they can charge at home. However, if everybody who COULD charge at home did, the pollution reduction would be enormous. More workplaces should have charging for their employees.
 
U

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The San Francisco Bay Area is well-known for having the most expensive gas in the United States. That's in part due to California's strict emissions regulations, but it's also due to the SF Bay Area being a wealthy area and gas companies raising prices here simply because they can. And indeed, they are moving toward $5/gallon here.

But prices are rising across the nation. In conservative circles, the blame resides squarely with Biden, particularly his cancelation of the Keystone XL pipeline project and stricter regulation of drilling permits.

What do you think is causing the rise in gas prices? What have you read about the causes? Is it all Biden's fault?

Historically, a rise in gas prices has been followed by a war in the Middle East. So...keep an eye out for that.
Have you seen Canadian gas prices?:)
 
U

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And all those schleps went out to buy big assed humungous SUVs and Trucks are feeling the pinch badly. I always thought it was a dangerous move for Detroit to pull totally out of the car market and to focus to the 'truck' market instead.
 

BigMcGuire

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My wife and I drive civics and we sure feel the price increase. We could get rid of our 2 civics for an electric car (less than) - but we live in an apartment and wouldn't be able to charge really fast. But the temptation to go electric is getting higher and higher as this continues. Not going to take much more before we give up gas forever.
 
U

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My wife and I drive civics and we sure feel the price increase. We could get rid of our 2 civics for an electric car (less than) - but we live in an apartment and wouldn't be able to charge really fast. But the temptation to go electric is getting higher and higher as this continues. Not going to take much more before we give up gas forever.
Right now we're filling up the car about once every two months, and my 2001 Silverado has had 1 fill up in the last year. So I'm kinda OK with the price.

Besides, having come originally from England, I think the prices here are still much much lower than they were when I left Blighty 20 years ago.
 

BigMcGuire

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Right now we're filling up the car about once every two months, and my 2001 Silverado has had 1 fill up in the last year. So I'm kinda OK with the price.

Besides, having come originally from England, I think the prices here are still much much lower than they were when I left Blighty 20 years ago.
I'm 100% remote as of April last year (yay) but my wife drives 53 miles (one way) a day (usually every other day). So despite getting 48-52MGP combined we're still filling up enough for it to hurt vs what it did 2 years ago when it was $3.20/gal (almost $5/gal now).
 
U

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I'm 100% remote as of April last year (yay) but my wife drives 53 miles (one way) a day (usually every other day). So despite getting 48-52MGP combined we're still filling up enough for it to hurt vs what it did 2 years ago when it was $3.20/gal (almost $5/gal now).
Oh yeah, that $5 will hurt - makes our Ohio $3.29 feel puny and cheap in comparison.

I still remember my old man in the mid 70's complaining about gas being 74p a (UK) gallon ($1.00 at today's conversion rate, 1 UK gallon = 1.2 US Gallons).

And then over here I was once (and only once mind) able to snag gas at 99c in early 2001.

Now it's averaging at $8.76 a US gallon over there (if my utterly appalling math is correct).
 

DT

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Almost 6 years since the last time I bought gas. Go electric and never worry about gas prices again. You’re helping the environment by reducing pollution too if you care about such things.

Yeah, we went xEV for various reasons, and while the consumable cost was one factor, I had no idea it would be this much savings.

We went down to the BIL's place in NSB Sat-Sun, and I took (really always have it in the car) the supplied "Mobile Connector" (lightweight portable charger/EVSE). I also picked up a few months ago, some additional adapters, so I was able to plug into his dryer outlet, it's an N14-30 so good for about 20-22 miles/hour charge rate. Just backed up to the garage door, the cable is 18' so it easily reached, and we "topped it off" :D

(We really didn't need to charge, this was sort of a test run)
 

Edd

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For apartment dwellers and such, I’m visualizing a mobile battery pack. Something that can be charged at home while you’re at work. When you come home, take the charged pack from your home, put it in the car and charge it overnight while you sleep. You’d have to have a port inside the vehicle to plug into for theft avoidance. I highly doubt it’s possible yet, to make such a thing easy to carry but it would get around significant infrastructure changes needed.
 

DT

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Even just outdoor 30a outlets. Decades ago when I lived in a couple of apartments, the center parking "median" had lights, so power, and the edge parking all had close access to either garages or the buildings themselves. Plus, both places had at least one designated outside spot (and the option for a garage for many places). Like @Edd pointed out, there's some theft concerns, so a simple lock box at each outlet would fix that up.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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