The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it would temporarily allow widespread sales of a higher ethanol gas blend in a move that they hope will tamp down consumer prices that have soared since the Iran war began.
The sale of E15 is typically discontinued in the summer because it can contribute to harmful air pollution.
Not all are convinced the move will substantially lower gas prices. E15 isn’t available in all states and some places don’t have the necessary infrastructure or enough of a supply of ethanol to ramp up use, said Kenneth Gillingham, a professor at the Yale School of the Environment who studies the impacts of transportation regulations on prices, emissions and consumer welfare.
Electric cars aren’t unattractive because they’re electric cars. They’re unattractive because they cost 1/4 the cost of my house and come preenshitified with subscriptions. If I could afford an electric car I would get one. Let me know when you see one selling for under $5k.
You can buy a new gas car for $5K?
When did I say new? I still have no idea how anyone who isn’t a millionare or more could buy a new car. I’m decently above average income and even the cheapest new cars still cost an impossible amount of money. Yeah loans are a thing but that also confuses me because why would any bank give anyone a +$20,000 loan for a fairly rapidly depreciating asset which could be totaled the next day by a random deer or bad driver. Yeah, insurance is a thing but the cost of insurance on new cars is also inconceivably expensive. Even if you ignore the cost of vehicle itself, how do people even manage to pay the insurance premiums and registration costs? Some people must be buying new cars of course but I genuinely have no idea how or why.
Polestar exists. Buy used. You can get a great EV for less than 30k regularly and less than 20k depending on your needs and deal shopping.
Those prices are an absolute steal in today’s car market.
Around me,you can buy a Nissan leaf for $4000 without a lot of miles…but this won’t last long when people get a clue about EV misinformation.
$20k is still more than I can ever imagine spending on a vehicle. The most expensive vehicle I ever bought was $3k and I really had to think on that one. Until there are +20 year old used electric vehicles for sale, they aren’t an option for me. Unfortunately it also looks like they are being built like every other piece of tech and designed to be tossed out every few years so I don’t know that +20 year old electric vehicles will ever really exist. Not that new gas engine cars are any different in that way either of course.
I’m referring to the market of people who can already afford one, but choose not to because of various reasons like range, charging speed, politics, charging availability, etc. I never said the only reason they’re unattractive is anything specific. But anything that helps them get in the mainstream consciousness will eventually help things like mass production, research, and market share, which will also help price and overall technology improvement speed. $5k electric cars may come in the future but nothing relating to ethanol in gas will directly cause those to appear and before that happens EVs in general need to become more accepted and more adopted.