Stop Waiting for Gas Prices to Go Back to Normal. The Volatility Is the Real Problem.

---

Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

---

If you’ve been watching the news, you know things are chaotic overseas. With the current conflict effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz and tankers taking massive detours around Africa, the global energy market is having a complete meltdown.

We’re already seeing the impact at the pump, and many people are starting to wonder if it makes sense to keep driving a gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle. Edmunds just released some new data showing that interest in electrified vehicles jumped to 22.4% of all their search traffic in the first week of March.

But their analysts briefly pointed out something really important that most readers will miss. Shoppers are looking at EVs, but many are hesitating to actually pull the trigger because they’re trying to guess how long these high prices will last. 

Vehicle prices and interest rates are high right now, and even if they weren’t, swapping your car out is still a pain in the ass. Learning how to get the most out of an EV is also something that requires effort. Buying a home charging station and learning how to use public charging stations are also hills one must climb.

If drivers think this is just a temporary spike, they’ll just grit their teeth, absorb the extra fuel costs, and stick with what they have rather than risk going through all that. If $2.50 and below gas is just around the corner, they’ll just be able to go back to their normal lives.

You can already see politicians leaning hard into this mentality as the markets come unglued. Trump is out there trying to get people to mentally move on, brushing the whole thing off as a temporary glitch and trying to tell people that the war is about over. He clearly underestimated the massive economic hole this conflict would create and knows the public isn’t happy. The political strategy is to convince you to just wait it out until things go “back to normal.”

But that’s the trap.

“I’ll Be Back.” Expensive Gas Will Always Return

Even if by some miracle the current crisis gets resolved quickly, the high prices will always come back. They always, always, always do. The real problem a family needs to solve isn’t just today’s sky-high gas and diesel. The real enemy is the volatility. We’re always one war, one geopolitical crisis, or one hurricane away from oil companies wrecking your budget and getting their hands into your savings or credit card balance again.

Look at the latest Short-Term Energy Outlook from the EIA. They had to aggressively revise their forecasts because Brent crude oil shot past $94 a barrel practically overnight. And, because refineries absolutely need heavy crude from the Middle East to make diesel efficiently, we’re looking at a massive global shortfall. It’s not just families that need to move on from burning shit to move. Most of the commercial world relies on diesel, and everyone pays higher prices when diesel goes to $8/gallon (more on that in a bit).

As long as we rely on fossil fuels, our local economy is entirely tethered to a global commodity that reacts violently to every geopolitical disaster, shipping bottleneck, or refinery issue. You’re strapping your household budget to a roller coaster that you have absolutely no control over. When the freight networks freeze up and local delivery costs go through the roof, it hits everyone.

Oil companies and the politicians they own are desperate to keep you thinking that this is just some temporary pain that you have to live with them through, but they’re the ones who make record profits almost every time this happens.

Getting Off The Roller Coaster

This is exactly where having an electric vehicle completely flips the script. Roller coasters are fun on the occasional trip to Six Flags, but you don’t want your household budget riding on one every day.

While drivers of gas and diesel vehicles are bleeding cash and stressing over the news, EV owners keep their operating costs flat and predictable. Driving an EV right now feels like a superpower. You’re totally insulated from the chaos happening at the wholesale terminals.

A Personal Example Of An EV Saving The Day

As I plan and prepare for an RV trip along Route 66 in a few weeks, I’m seeing other families in the RV space cancel their summer fun. Why? Because gas is more expensive, and diesel fuel is fixing to become almost entirely unaffordable.

Diesel fuel relies more heavily on the kind of crude oil that comes out of the Persian Gulf, and once the ships stop arriving, the whole market is going to go into panic mode.

Even if the crisis in Iran stops today, it will be months before oil distribution gets back to normal. The ships carrying it around won’t go to any place where they can’t get insurance or where there’s a risk to the life of the crew. Once the ships all start moving again, it takes weeks for them to get where they’re going, and then they’ll all be parking outside of ports waiting for their turn to unload because they all showed up at the same time. Refineries will have to reconfigure. Economies will need to recover.

But my summer plans are still 100% on. I don’t have to worry nearly as much what the oil markets are doing because I’m towing with an electric truck.

Electricity prices do depend on fossil fuels, sure, but it mostly comes from domestic sources that aren’t affected by every little dispute that gets the missiles firing. Even if somehow the grid goes dark due to insane diesel prices keeping repair trucks parked, I can still add a few miles a day from my trailer’s solar panels and limp my way to the next place with power like the guy did in The Martian. You can’t make your own diesel.

Want to see how my journey goes? Follow me on BlueSky here or at my website.

Some Final Thoughts

If you’re driving gas and you’re looking at switching to an EV, this is what I want you to take away from this:

Don’t let politicians convince you to just grin and bear it until prices drop. The volatility is baked into the system. High prices will be back. Getting an EV is how you finally opt out.

Featured image by the US Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC). Public Domain, government work.