California is now notorious in my mind for outrageous gas prices like $3.30/gallon. But that's just fine by all of us because frankly, the higher those prices go the more justifiable the price we paid for a Prius is.

I've actually managed to find gas in CA as low as $2.80/gal lately however, and I've read articles suggesting it's going to fall continually through the 2006 election. Magical and inexplicable series of events to occur when the controlling party is trying to get re-elected, but regardless - are we in for a few months of feeling a little silly about the price of a Prius?

 

You will be mocked for all of 10 minutes until the national average bounces off of $2.35 and starts heading back in the other direction.

 

When I bought Prius in 2001 I paid as little as $1/gallon for fuel. Since than it has been as much as $4. Now the US average is about $2.50, and before I'm done with this car it will be very much higher. In the long term we will be saying "I saved a lot on fuel" not "those few fuel cost dips made me look stupid".

In fact I am inclined to say look for fuel prices to increase again by, oh, the second week of September. (Conspiracy theory alert).

DAS

 

I just hope American voters can still remember how expensive gas was by Novermber time. But unfortunately, voters tend to remember what was said on TV ad the day before (that is why the day before election has nothing but commercials), not the pains and sufferings from 6 months ago. Must hand it to our politicians, they know how to win elections.

 

Not to keep pushing it, but if you are frustrated with the American voter, UCS has gotten great results regardless of who runs the government, year after year. They take an approach that focuses on voter education and, frankly, route out liars trying to push bad bills like no other organization I've seen. They helped the impressive $3,125 tax break for the Prius come to be in 2006 and if they have their way, 2007's will be even more significant. They've helped punish fake Hybrids like GM's as well.

 

I saw gas for $1.999 a gallon yesterday, and it didn't bother me a bit. I'm still saving money vs. a non-hybrid, just not as much. I chose to drive a hybrid only partly to save money. I'm still driving a car that pollutes much less than most other new cars on the road today. And I'm doing less to support foreign governments in the mideast and Venezuela that hate us.

So, am I worry about being mocked? People that mock me are only showing their ignorance.

 

Holy cow $ 1.99 a gallon!! Nothing happened from the days of $ 3+/gallon to today, so that's at least $ 1.01/gallon of profit for America's oil companies and gas stations. What a sickening thought.

Today's LA Times has a good article about state of CA suing Big 6 (GM, Ford, DC, Toyota, Nissan and Honda) for polluting, and this time the law suit has pretty good merits. Sad thing is Toyota/Honda could have been clean enough to pass CA standards (or darn near passing), but yielded to peer pressure to back Big 3. I hope this lawsuit will get all car companies to face up to their responsibilities/environmental impacts.

 

"Just in time!" - I bought my 03 Prius a year ago come Oct. 1. I've put 20,000 miles on it and it looks like:

$600+ total fuel savings over the Scion xB
$500+ insuranace savings
-----
$1100+ hybrid savings in the first year
-$824 ->> price differential used 03 Prius vs. new Scion xB
-------
~$276 - cost savings first year of 03 Prius ownership

Not bad considering I didn't get a tax break. <grins>

Bob Wilson

 

Actually quite a lot has happened to gas recently - above all, the summer mix of gas has ebbed. Apparently there's a special mix used in summer that's more expensive, and every year it spikes before it enters the market and stays high a while, then falls again. Part of the fall we're seeing can be attributed to that, but not entirely. The rest is general instability - including in Mexico by the way.

At the end of 2005 I was curious where oil actually comes from so I compiled a list. Here it is if anyone's curious:

1. Canada 17.5%
2. Mexico 17.2%
3. Saudi Arabia 15.3%
4. Venezuela 13.9%

For those keeping track that's over 60% of our oil, with only 1 Arab country. The rest of about 96% of our oil, in order:

* Nigeria 9.9%
* Iraq 6.2%
* Angola 3.0%
* Colombia 3.0%
* Kuwait 2.5%
* Ecuador 2.0%
* Norway 1.6%
* UK 1.4%
* Algeria 1.3%
* Brazil 1.1%

You can find the source of these numbers at:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/p...f/table_21.pdf

Mexico had a crisis on its hands due to its elections which are only now stabling out; and, we get some gas from ourselves, including the Alaska pipeline that was a disaster earlier in the year but whose effects have now subsided. So, it does make some sense for gas prices to fall now, it's just a little too convenient for me that they're falling *right* now.

 

Don't hold your breath. The tax credits are nothing more than subsidies to Toyota and the other car makers. The tax credits were only supposed to last until Toyota could get production numbers up to make the car profitable. They have hit that target, 60,000, so the subsidies should start going away.

Fake hybrids? Can you explain what a fake hybrid is?