The Fed's dropped alot of money on us up the road as well. Infrastructure things like rural broadband or 'fiber-in-the-woods" as I call it. It's good, would have been better not to tax/print/spend but I ain't in charge. I do know the ones that are and their building all of their pet projects, but it will dry up at some point.

I can finally be in peace and will keep my 4Runner.

For the last 18 months of my career I was forced to drive in some of the worst traffic in Los Angeles. 35 miles each way down the 405 freeway in my 4Runner which gets 16.5 MPG. It was 3 tanks $80 - $90 every two weeks.

Now I am retired ( I took an early retirement because of this shit). I filled my tank on my last day close to home. It has been three weeks and I still have over half a tank of gas.

In the summer or when the wind blows they can shut off our power for days. If you have solar panels they get shut off as well for safety. Good luck charging your EV when that happens.

Congrats on your retirement.

Power off for DAYS?!?!

I always have this in the back of my mind....

Northeast blackout of 2003 - Wikipedia

Without electricity we are back to the 1800s.

Thanks.

Yes after the power companies were sued into oblivion from all the wild fires in the last few years they now shut off the power every time the wind blows. Our housing has underground wiring but we are on the same grid as the foothills that have burned many times.

I have a 4500W propane generator that we have used a lot. It is a Pain to run cords thru the house. I bought a 20KW whole house one than runs on natural gas but have not had it hooked up yet. It would have enough power to charge an EV using gas. ;)

i'll still keep my 4runner. If the fires ever threaten my home and I needed to evac, I'd take my 4runner over my Tesla. Unless the low gas light is on.

I went with 3x powerwalls to keep the lights and AC on.

Just gonna leave this here for the weekend…

Here'''s why California is telling electric car owners not to charge them | Fortune

Gonna put gas in my LC and enjoy the long weekend.

I have never quite understood the fascination with analyzing the cost of basic/needed commodities. For example, not too many years ago, milk (around here) cost less than $3 a gallon and now cost about $5.

The choices are - stop drinking milk or stop worrying about the cost per gallon.

I use the same philosophy when it comes to gasoline.

Imagine what it's like watching the insanity play out in Europe/UK with a front row seat!

A fair point, but this assumes you're helpless and at the mercy of market forces. That's more true for the milk though than the gas. The reason gas prices are where they are is because a politician with different energy policies took office. I'm not defending Trump, simply stating a fact: his policies lowered US gas prices and resulted in the country being energy independent. So it doesn't have to be Trump, but you can support candidates whose approach on energy is similar.

These issues aren't complicated. It's Economics 101 and we have plenty of history to look at too, but the people in power think doing the same things that resulted in disastrous inflation before just somehow weren't done well enough last time. That's not the problem.

The OP did not ask why the price of gasoline has risen. I have taken graduate-level economics courses and we could certainly have that discussion...but it is superfluous to the OPs original question.

My comment addresses opportunity cost. The stark choice given was to either keep the 4Runner and its inherent costs or move to an alternative vehicle with it's own set of inherent costs.

I'll keep the 4Runner.

Gas is between $6-7 where I am. Easily more than $100 per fill-up. (5th Gen Limited 4x4).

Already listed my 4Runner for sale. As much as I WANT TO keep it. I can't.

Looking at hybrids, but the sad part is, I can't get my hands on one of those (at a fair price,) either.

I feel for you and I'm sorry you have to part with a vehicle you'd like to keep.

I don't think I will ever own a hybrid or an electric. I don't have the skill set to repair them myself. I may pay more for gas but (what I expect to be) reduced repair costs will offset the hybrid/electric (e)MPG savings and probably be a wash or slightly in my favor.

...at least that's my reasoning for sticking with the ICE.

I will keep mine as well. As for why the fascination with analyzing prices, I suppose there's just something in human nature that wants to know what's behind a 265% increase (where I live) in the cost of one of those basic commodities.

Agreed.

265% is criminal and absurd.