So what's everone paying for gasoline?

[Bogie]

I see a LOT of people who have "non-driver" ID...
 
And they are driving anyway.
 
They can get the ID, but taking the test is too hard...

[K Frame]

"I'd say there is likely something to the argument that two years of pent up demand for travel especially in areas that were tightly locked down is at least partially responsible for increased gasoline demand and therefore higher pricing."

There certainly is.

But there's also a lot to be said for the fact that during the Campaign the entire Democratic party and all if its dozens of candidates kept going out of their way to declare war on fossil fuels, a stance that Brandon institutionalized on his very first day in office and has continued to do so.

[Hawkmoon]

I'd say there is likely something to the argument that two years of pent up demand for travel especially in areas that were tightly locked down is at least partially responsible for increased gasoline demand and therefore higher pricing.

Not really. It's the end of the winter heating season, so this is when refineries typically switch over a lot of their production from heating oil to gasoline. I don't know anyone who is suddenly driving more or farther to release "pent up" desires to travel.

[cordex]

Not really. It's the end of the winter heating season, so this is when refineries typically switch over a lot of their production from heating oil to gasoline.  I don't know anyone who is suddenly driving more or farther to release "pent up" desires to travel.

Oh, well if you don’t know anyone like that then I’m sure they don’t exist.  It was a good theory until you provided the counterfactual.

[Big Hairy Bee]

4.59 in Mesa AZ this afternoon

[K Frame]

Crude oil is falling HARD today.

WTI is down almost $7.20 a barrel and is flirting with $102.

Wholesale gasoline is also down today, currently off 15 cents a gallon.

[WLJ]

So gas at the pump will be fall from $4.25 to $4.23 by June?

[K Frame]

So gas at the pump will be fall from $4.25 to $4.23 by June?

No, it will go up another 25 to 30 cents because we're just about ready to change the more expensive winter gasoline over to the more expensive summer blend gasoline.

[WLJ]

No, it will go up another 25 to 30 cents because we're just about ready to change the more expensive winter gasoline over to the more expensive summer blend gasoline.

Yeah, *expletive deleted*ck

[WLJ]

I started calling the the summer "reformulated" blend the Greta blend. Costs more, makes your gas mileage drop, car runs like *expletive deleted*it, while really doing nothing to help the environment.

[K Frame]

Hum....

WTI is now seriously looking like it's going to drop back below $100 a barrel.

This is apparently on word of Ukraine/Russia talks and the Kung Flu re-emerging in China.

[WLJ]

$100.8 right now

[K Frame]

I started calling the the summer "reformulated" blend the Greta blend. Costs more, makes your gas mileage drop, car runs like *expletive deleted*it, while really doing nothing to help the environment.

I'll disagree with the last part.

Summer blend gasolines have had a marked positive effect on summer air quality in the Washington DC metro area over the last 20+ years.

When I first moved down here it wasn't unusual to have half or more of our summer days hitting poor air quality levels.

Since the adoption of summer blend gasolines the number of poor air quality days is rarely above single digits.

You can also see the better air quality in that there's no longer a smog haze sitting over DC in the summer.

[WLJ]

I'll disagree with the last part.

Summer blend gasolines have had a marked positive effect on summer air quality in the Washington DC metro area over the last 20+ years.

When I first moved down here it wasn't unusual to have half or more of our summer days hitting poor air quality levels.

Since the adoption of summer blend gasolines the number of poor air quality days is rarely above single digits.

You can also see the better air quality in that there's no longer a smog haze sitting over DC in the summer.

I'm on the fence on that since I wonder how much of that is due to tighter and more effective emission controls on newer cars. Also cars in the past 20 years have gotten far more efficient which means less gas burnt for a given number of miles. Like I say I'm not sure.

[K Frame]

"I'm on the fence on that since I wonder how much of that is due to tighter and more effective emission controls on newer cars."

All of it contributes.

There are still one hell of a lot of the older, less efficient cars on the road, and the summer blend gasoline has a big effect on their emissions.

[WLJ]

Stop you belly aching gas has only gone up 22% in the past two weeks
By my math gas has gone up 46% here

Average US gas price rises 22% in two weeks to record $4.43
https://www.wave3.com/2022/03/13/average-us-gas-price-spikes-79-cents-over-2-weeks-443/

[Lennyjoe]

Gas in Florida leaving Saturday was $4.39 on average.  Closer we got to Ohio the cheaper it was and ended around $3.99 near home.

[charby]

Cheapest gas I found over the weekend was $3.679 at Olds, Iowa on the Avenue of the Saints.

[dogmush]

Holding Steady at $4.29 here in Tampa.  My Wife's Alfa takes high test, she said that was $5.09 this morning.

[WLJ]

$101.7

[WLJ]

Wrong direction!

102.9

[RoadKingLarry]

$3.75 in Tulsa.

[Ben]

$4.44 in town. I was gonna gas up when I was getting my tires rotated at Costco today, but the line was way too long, so I don't know their (cheapest place around) current price.

[AZRedhawk44]

I'm on the fence on that since I wonder how much of that is due to tighter and more effective emission controls on newer cars. Also cars in the past 20 years have gotten far more efficient which means less gas burnt for a given number of miles. Like I say I'm not sure.

I question this.

There were a lot of 40-50mpg cars on the market in the 90's, that are gone today.  Nothing on par with a Geo Metro, for instance.  It's not fair to compare ICE/electric hybrids to a pure ICE vehicle like the Metro.

Larger displacement vehicles have been able to churn out more power and institute fuel saving operations inside of a very narrow power band, but if you don't live somewhere flat as a checker board then you don't get to drive in the manner needed to stay in that band.

I get the impression, watching cars since the 90's to today, that fuel economy has mostly stagnated because of the increased demand for more features in cars, and/or increased emissions standards that do not generate more power.  The Metro wasn't the safest car in a crash, for sure, and it would be challenged to sell today when its crash ratings were compared to a 2020's Corolla or other competitor.  And despite sipping gas like a Victorian Socialite at Tea, it probably had substandard emissions management by today's standards.

A 1995 Ford Taurus 3.0L V6 got 17city/26hwy mpg.
A 2015 Ford Taurus 3.5L V6 gets 18/26.

That's just one car and I don't have the patience to check a wide swathe of different makes and models, this just came to my head because it's what my dad drove when I was in high school, and it's still made recently.

[dogmush]

And yet average fuel economy in the US has been on a steady (albeit slow) climb from the 90's to today.

https://www.bts.gov/content/average-fuel-efficiency-us-light-duty-vehicles

This is in spite of increased weight from safety standards and gizmos.  It's true that there are no cheap, very efficient shitboxes anymore (The Metro, the Honda CRX, to a lesser extent the Omni)  I think there are just less shitboxes in general.  We often talked about how due both to regulation and market forces cars are much more expensive then they used to be, they are also heavier.  That manufacturers have managed to make the fleet on average more efficient even though cars are heavier, and sedans have been all but replaced by crossovers says a lot about the current state of engine efficiency.

Put it this way: in 1990 GM put a 1.0L, 3 cylinder engine making 49HP in a 1600lb Metro and got 41MPG.  Now Daimler puts a 1.0L, 3 cylinder engine making 89HP in a 2000lb Smart fortwo and still gets 40 MPG.