Gas prices in the East Valley and nationwide are galloping, with overnight jumps of 30 cents or more per gallon.
Gas prices are galloping at record speed. Over night gas prices rose by $0.30 per gallon on 9 March 2022. Gas prices, driven by oil prices, are at all time record highs. In Chandler, Arizona we have seen levels as high as $4.59 per gallon.
Recent oil price spikes are caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
However, gas prices have been rising rapidly for the past year, essentially doubling since 2021. Government lock downs during Covid, and especially the Biden administration's war on the US domestic energy industry are to blame for the supply shock during the last year, raising prices. Perversely, the Biden administration claims that it is not their hostile policies which have caused rising prices since it came to power, but energy companies.
The political left appears to use the gas price spikes to push for more green new deal policies, arguing that green energy is the solution the spikes in gas prices, rather than more oil production. They could also use it to advocate for more welfare and government spending, election law changes, amnesty - because of "climate refugees" and even more socialist indoctrination in public/government schools.
People who own one of the increasingly common electric vehicles should be careful if they intend to gloat. Delivery vehicles, trucks, Diesel locomotives, container ships and most other vehicles still run on fossil fuels. Gas price hikes hence affect the prices of virtually every good and service produced in the United States and all other nations.
In truth, the shift away from fossil fuels is happening on its own. As technology improves for electric vehicles, more and more consumers are opting for such vehicles. Over time, due to natural market forces, and without government intervention, the transportation part of the economy will shift from fossil fuel to electric.
While traditional cars have to burn petrol or Diesel in the engine of the car itself, the electricity for electric cars can be produced in a variety of ways, from coal fired power plants, over nuclear power plants to solar and solar thermal power plants. Power plants do not have the need to be lightweight, and so can be designed to be more energy efficient than car engines. Also, the electric motors in an electric are more energy efficient than combustion engines, converting nearly all of the electric power input into useful mechanical work.