US gasoline consumption the highest its ever been

[1208]

August was the biggest month ever for US gasoline consumption, the latest data shows, with Americans using a staggering 9.7 million barrels per day. That’s more than a gallon per day for every US man, woman and child.

This new spike comes despite government pledges to cut down on gasoline consumption.

US gasoline consumption has increased steadily four years in a row, hitting a new peak.

Greedy guzzlers: US gasoline consumption higher than ever

One day you'll get a president who gives a damn.

Unless you have policies like in Norway to properly encourage EV adoption then I guess the best bet is companies like Tesla to make people want EV's over ICE cars. The Model 3 should hopefully be a turning point.

 

[cwerdna]

One day you'll get a president who gives a damn.

Thank you for the post and pointer to the stats.

I hate to get into US politics here, but unfortunately, it's not that simple. Our system is very different than the parliamentary system in the UK and many other countries. Our current President is a Democrat but both houses of Congress are controlled by the Republican party (U.S. Senate: Party Division and Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives). So, unfortunately, efforts by the President to try to reduce our oil and oil refined products consumption are likely going to be blocked by the Republicans.

MANY Americans have such TERRIBLE auto buying habits and don't think long-term. When gas prices are "low' they buy guzzler trucks and SUVs because they think they can "afford" it. Then when they go high, the flee and suddenly want smaller, more efficient vehicles. Uhh... Great. US auto execs have complained about this short-term memory problem for ages.

Don't Let Gas Prices Drive Your Car-Buying Choices | Edmunds.com quotes a dealership manager of observing the same thing.

Ray Funk, sales manager of Humble Hyundai near Houston, says that in his car-selling career he's seen the cycle happen time and again. "People have short memories and every time gasoline prices dump, I have customers coming in and saying 'Now I can afford a bigger car,'" he says.

"Then, a year later, when gas prices have gone back up and they have to fork over that extra cash at the pump, they're back in here trying to dump that big car or truck on us so they can buy a more affordable vehicle."

That's just the time, Funk says, that dealers don't want hard-to-sell trucks and SUVs filling up their used-car departments.

And when you see stats like these time and time again, one makes you wonder how many people really could "afford" that guzzler in the first place. And, it makes you wonder whether dumping vehicles that nobody wants at bad times (thus losing big $) then buying more efficient ones when everyone wants one isn't further putting them in the hole.

66 million Americans have no emergency savings. You heard that right
The typical American couple has only $5,000 saved for retirement

Geopolitical potential for a game-changing gas shortage? - Page 4 - My Nissan Leaf Forum (search for logic) has some interesting "logic" of some people who drive relatively inefficient vehicles but were complaining about high gas prices, when they were.

 

[1208]

Thanks for the information. I checked out about your Houses, Dems had control over Representatives until 2010 and Senate until 2014.

Anyway I am sure if the petrol prices in America were as high as ours more would switch to electric or probably riot.

It is £1.12 per litre of unleaded petrol or $1.45 per litre of gas.

Of course your driving habits are different as you have longer journeys and like to haul more stuff which is why Tesla have got to ramp up the design for the Pick Up.

 

[cwerdna]

Thanks for the information. I checked out about your Houses, Dems had control over Representatives until 2010 and Senate until 2014.

Yeah... we don't have such a system where the Prime Minister (which we don't have) is the same party as the parliamentary body. So... yeah, when there's a party mismatch, it can be difficult to get anything passed. It seems like in the last 4+ years, everything gets politicized. Everyone is eventually up for re-election... well, except our President can only serve 2 terms. It might be for reasons where the bill/proposal is against that party's principles or just that they're trying to screw the other side.

We have this whole concept of checks and balances system w/3 branches: Branches of Government | USAGov

Anyway I am sure if the petrol prices in America were as high as ours more would switch to electric or probably riot.

It is £1.12 per litre of unleaded petrol or $1.45 per litre of gas.

Indeed. I converted 1.12 UK pounds to US dollars in per US gallon, and that comes out to $5.50 USD per US gallon. Yes, that would be pretty crazy here. I can recall points in time where it was for you guys over $9 USD per US gallon.

AAA Gas Prices currently has our national average at $2.224 per US gallon. (US gallons are smaller than Imperial gallons.) Google tells me that $2.224/gal would come out to 0.456 UK pounds per litre. (Google for 2.24 us dollars per us gallon in uk pounds per litre.)

Of course your driving habits are different as you have longer journeys and like to haul more stuff which is why Tesla have got to ramp up the design for the Pick Up.

Our sales makeup is also likely very different than yours. Take a look at August 2016 YTD U.S. Vehicle Sales Rankings - Top 299 Best-Selling Vehicles In America - Every Vehicle Ranked - GOOD CAR BAD CAR and the take rate of non-plugin hybrids, plug-in hybrids and pure BEVs (battery electric) at August 2016 Dashboard - HybridCars.com.

In a month where say 1,066 Leafs are sold/leased here, GM will move this many of all basically the same battering ram of death class guzzler SUV (well, some are extended length versions): Tahoe: 8,297, Escalade: 3,037, Yukon: 5,324, Yukon XL (extended length): 3,478, Suburban (extended length): 5,737.

And, its not like folks really DO haul more stuff here. If you drop by the parking lot (car park in British parlance) of my local supermarket and watch the vehicles come and go, you will see an astonishing number of the above BRoD class SUVs being driven solo and/or minimal cargo and passengers (e.g. 1 or 2 small children).

 

[cwerdna]

Oh yes, along the lines of US auto sales, hopefully you can see Auto Sales - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com.

 

[kort677]

Indeed. I converted 1.12 UK pounds to US dollars in per US gallon, and that comes out to $5.50 USD per US gallon. Yes, that would be pretty crazy here. I can recall points in time where it was for you guys over $9 USD per US gallon.

the only reason that fuel prices are so high in the UK are the massive tax levies imposed on motor fuels there.
I won't get into the politics of it but I will say that free health care, and myriad other social programs need to be funded and in the UK and other places in the world the burden of funding is shifted to the motorist.

 

[ecarfan]

the only reason that fuel prices are so high in the UK are the massive tax levies imposed on motor fuels there.

True, and that encourages fuel efficient vehicles and using mass transit. Good.

I won't get into the politics of it but I will say that free health care, and myriad other social programs need to be funded and in the UK and other places in the world the burden of funding is shifted to the motorist

Tax rates in general are higher in the UK than in the US, it's not just fuel taxes. And that does indeed help fund health care for everyone in the UK. Good for them.

 

[Topher]

the burden of funding is shifted to the motorist.

Not enough. Using gas comes with costs to us all, in terms of health care, environmental degradation, global warming, and so on. Adding all those costs to the people incurring them (gas users) would require pricing gasoline at over $10 per gallon. Health care is subsidizing motorists, not the other way around.

Thank you kindly.

 

[Alketi]

Just to give an idea about the disparity of predictions out there:

Linked within the article, Wood Mackenzie is predicting that EVs will reduce gasoline demand by 300,000 barrels in 2035. That's a 3% reduction in 20 YEARS!

Meanwhile, Tona Seba makes the case that EVs will comprise 100% of new vehicle sales by 2030.

Someone is very very wrong and I think most of us suspect the future will be far closer to Tony Seba's predictions. The Model 3 earthquake is already rumbling, with nearly every manufacturer now announcing multiple EVs in the pipeline. And, the Model 3 hasn't even shipped yet. The epicenter of the movement should hit around 2018. I would call these statistics a gasoline bubble, aka, don't put your money in oil stocks.

 

[Topher]

Someone is very very wrong and I think most of us suspect the future will be far closer to Tony Seba's predictions.

If you look at predictions for many technology items (cell phones for example). ALL the predictions were too low.

Thank you kindly.

 

[EV-lutioin]

New oil exploration at its lowest level. Workers being laid off. Drilling equipment being actioned off. SUV sales at an all time high. People blabbing that oil prices will stay low.... forever. All the signs of a classic bust. Be prepared for the ensuing inventory squeeze, demand spike and related boom in oil prices. Business cycles are just that, cyclical.

 

[GoTslaGo]

New oil exploration at its lowest level. Workers being laid off. Drilling equipment being actioned off. SUV sales at an all time high. People blabbing that oil prices will stay low.... forever. All the signs of a classic bust. Be prepared for the ensuing inventory squeeze, demand spike and related boom in oil prices. Business cycles are just that, cyclical.

Yes, and the Saudi's just agreed to reign in production to boost prices. Interestingly this is giving many central banks cause for celebration as it may boost inflation figures and let everyone out of the current deflationary cycle.

 

[kort677]

Yes, and the Saudi's just agreed to reign in production to boost prices. Interestingly this is giving many central banks cause for celebration as it may boost inflation figures and let everyone out of the current deflationary cycle.

I've been trading oil for more than 30 years and you can make a good living ignoring any sort of production cut back announcements by the saudis. not one cut since the almost total shut down in the early '70s had ever impacted the markets for any significant amount of time. there are too many countries in africa and other places that must export crude in order to sustain their country's well being.
that reality will subvert any sort of production cut by the saudis.
In addition the US is now the biggest swing producer in the world and the US has been exporting crude for a year or so.

 

[Ulmo]

Thanks for the information. I checked out about your Houses, Dems had control over Representatives until 2010 and Senate until 2014.

Anyway I am sure if the petrol prices in America were as high as ours more would switch to electric or probably riot.

It is £1.12 per litre of unleaded petrol or $1.45 per litre of gas.

Of course your driving habits are different as you have longer journeys and like to haul more stuff which is why Tesla have got to ramp up the design for the Pick Up.

Google's calculator handles this just fine, thankfully (I just copy & pasted your text and got the query "£1.12 per litre in dollars per gallon" into Google, and got): (UK£ 1.12) per litre = 5.45559603 U.S. dollars per US gallon

Solar panels weren't as inexpensive in 2010 as they are today. Also, the Tesla Model S was not yet out in 2010. Both were available and plausible in 2014, but things have changed in the marketplace a lot for these $80,000-$130,000 cars and solar panels since 2014, but it's now only 2 years later. When solar roofs and Model 3 come out in larger numbers in 2018 in ways that start to reach some of the wealthier of the not-rich, then I expect to see bigger movement on here, especially as Europe and Detroit bring their own competition to the marketplace. Also, bridging the gap between solar uneven collection and energy use will be energy storage, which has barely started to hit the marketplace in small quantities, but we hope will start to be available in large quantities by 2018.

I think the end of this decade will be the real turning point in our ability to easily stop using dirty energy. We could have done so many decades earlier if we had better leadership, but now it has gotten to the point that the economics of doing the necessary thing is getting more trivial all the time. It's all a lot slower than I want, but it's what I'm seeing. I just hope we can finish converting to clean energy before the environment gets severely messed up, or at least as little messed up as possible.