AAA reported the national average price for regular gasoline climbed to $4.53 a gallon heading into the weekend, a sharp jump from roughly $3.20 a year ago. For families already battling stubborn inflation, rising credit card balances, and elevated borrowing costs, the timing could hardly be worse.
Consumers are paying $4.52 a gallon for gasoline nationally, while diesel prices have climbed to $5.64 a gallon nationwide and above $6 in some regions. At the same time, food inflation remains stubborn because trucking costs ripple through nearly every aisle in the grocery store.
The conflict in the Middle East itself might be teetering on a tentative ceasefire, but higher gasoline prices are likely here to stay. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline on Friday was $4.54, according to AAA, up from around $3 before the war, and the most expensive gas has been since the Ukraine War's early days in mid-2022.
The national average price for regular gasoline now stands at $4.483 per gallon, up from $4.176 just one week ago. In less than two weeks, gas prices have surged 11%, putting them within striking distance of the all-time AAA record of $5.016 set on June 14, 2022.
The key to getting the most miles out of each gallon is driving efficiently. That means smooth acceleration, soft braking and slowing down. Cars tend to be the most fuel efficient when driven at about 50 miles per hour.
The United States - we produce more oil than we can consume. We're a net oil exporter," Wright said. This comment misses some important context. Some metrics show the U.S. as a net exporter, but for crude oil - the material that's refined into gasoline - the U.S. is a net importer.
Refiners will soon start the switch to so-called summer blends, which don't vaporize as easily, to meet air pollution requirements. It's more expensive and time-consuming to create fuel that's resistant to evaporation, explains Aixa Diaz, an AAA spokesperson. What's next: The seasonal cost rise typically starts at the end of February or early March as "spring break season kicks off and refineries start production of summer-blend gasoline," Diaz said via email.
One of Costco's biggest ways to save doesn't involve setting foot inside a warehouse. The wholesale club has been selling gasoline since 1995, and many US warehouses now have pumps for members to top up. The company is even set to open its first-ever stand-alone gas station in California this year. The savings make gasoline one of the biggest ways shoppers say their annual membership fee basically pays for itself.
The "win" for Ford and GM is that they are fossil-fuel kings in a fossil-fuel nation. The EV market has died, thanks mostly to the end of the federal $7,500 EV tax credit. iSeeCars research says that EV sales as a percentage of total U.S. new car sales dropped from 8% in the third quarter to 4% in the fourth quarter. It will stay at that level through 2026, the research firm forecasts.
We won every swing state, we won the popular vote, we won everything. You take a look at districts, it was 2,750 to 500, 525, Because that was an affordability problem. We brought it down. Look at energy, look at look at the gasoline price. That's like the simplest, and it's the biggest. Because if energy comes down, everything comes down, that's the way it works.
As of mid-afternoon Tuesday, average per-gallon prices for unleaded gasoline were $4.61 in San Jose, $4.67 in Oakland, $4.76 in San Francisco, $4.75 in Los Angeles, and $4.66 in California. On Oct. 2, per-gallon prices for unleaded gas were $4.55 in San Jose, $4.65 in Oakland, $4.69 in San Francisco, $4.71 in Los Angeles, and $4.64 in California.
The nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute studied U.S. households' "energy wallet" - what they pay for gasoline, power, natural gas, heating oil and propane, and more. The big picture: Last year, total "wallet" spending averaged $5,530 per household, with $1,860 for electric bills and $2,930 for gasoline. That's pretty similar to 2020 levels in inflation-adjusted dollars. But there was lots of variation in between, largely from gasoline price changes, while power has been steadier.
