Gasoline prices: Get ready for more pain

After reading about our Air Resources Board move this month to tighten gasoline "standards" even more I was reminded of this post from 2015.  The California average was $3.22 back then and in February 2017, I noted the price of regular at the Peninsula Ave. Shell was $3.05.  With apologies to composer Mary Hopkin

Those were the days my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and drive forever and a day
We'd buy the fuel we choose
We'd fight and always cruise
For we were young and sure to have our way

Today regular at that Shell station is $4.99, 64% higher than 2017.  And we need to get ready for more pain at the pump as Calmatters writes about the November 8th CARB vote

The new rule’s potential effects on California fuel prices are largely unknown. The air board said today that oil companies typically already pass 8 to 10 cents per gallon of costs on to consumers because of the state’s fuel standard.  Environmentalists and consumer advocates opposed the new rules, warning the changes will boost alternative fuels — such as biofuels made from cow manure or soy beans — that may have limited environmental upsides, and will allow oil companies to stay in business because they can buy credits or switch to producing those fuels.

In an initial assessment released last year, the air board projected that the proposed new standard could potentially raise the per-gallon price of diesel by 59 cents and for gasoline, 47 cents, in 2025. Air board officials have since disavowed that estimate, writing last month that the analysis “should not be misconstrued as a prediction of the future credit price nor as a direct impact on prices at the pump.”

Oh, let's not "misconstrue" anything.  We just won't make any forecast.  Other estimates put the gas increase at 65 cents per gallon or higher.  Meanwhile over in EV world, where CARB would like to push all of us, the WSJ has a piece titled "The Withering Dream of a Cheap American Electric Car".  Tesla has backed-off building a $25,000 car and all the other, non-profitable car companies see no way to succeed making a cost-competitive version either.  The Lucid CEO notes

“That market is notorious because you get into mass manufacture—terrible, low margins,” he said of the low-price EVs. “To install the manufacturing base for millions of these units makes little sense to me.”

Abandoning the idea of a $25,000 car comes as a blow to those who were betting that the electrification of the automobile was on track to happen seemingly overnight—with EVs for every pocketbook replacing the tens of millions of vehicles on the roadways.

Get ready to pay more--probably a lot more--because 12 unelected, activist bureaucrats say so.  By the way, it pays well too for a part-time gig.  CARB Chair Liane Randolph is pulling down $278,876 in pay and benefits.  She's probably buying premium.

Comments

[Phinancier]

Nevermind a cheap electric car as that ain't gonna happen. You'll be lucky to get one that is only 10-20% more than the equivalent gas car. And when it breaks down on the road good luck finding a tow truck driver willing to deal with it.

[Barking Dog]

I paid $2.89 at a Costco in Boise on Tue before our drive home to Reno. Filled up at Costco today in Reno $3.79

[JP]

The politicians talk out of both sides of their mouths. Affordable this affordable that. Then they do everything they can to make something everybody uses expensive. Then they start some fake commission to figure it out. Sick.

[Joe]

More green pork on the horizon? Paid for by us paying more for goods and services that use oil and gas in their supply chain--which is pretty much everything.

California could offer electric vehicle rebates if Trump eliminates tax credit, Newsom says

SACRAMENTO — California could offer rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates a federal tax credit for people who buy electric cars, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

Newsom, a Democrat, will propose creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which was phased out in 2023 after funding 594,000 cars and saving 456 million gallons of fuel, Newsom’s office said.

But a budget shortfall could complicate California’s resistance efforts. Early budget projections show the state could face a $2 billion deficit next year, according to a report released last week by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Money for the new rebate system could come from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is funded by polluters under the state’s cap-and-trade program, the governor’s office said.