{"id":4883,"date":"2026-03-26T10:32:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=4883"},"modified":"2026-03-26T10:32:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T10:32:59","slug":"are-high-gas-prices-good-news-for-evs-its-complicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news678.top\/?p=4883","title":{"rendered":"Are high gas prices good news for EVs? It\u2019s complicated."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Then again, maybe that won\u2019t quite do the trick: One survey from Cox Automotive found that most US consumers would consider switching to an EV or hybrid if gas prices hit $6 per gallon.<\/p>\n
But this is also the second big incident of fossil-fuel volatility in the last five years, which could make consumers more ready to make the switch, as Elaine Buckberg, a senior fellow at Harvard, told Bloomberg. (The first was in the summer of 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine.)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a climate and energy reporter, and I care about addressing climate change. So I\u2019m always happy to hear about people shifting to EVs or any other option that helps cut down on greenhouse-gas emissions.<\/p>\n
But one aspect that I think is getting lost here is that sustained high fossil-fuel prices will be bad for even those of us who are untethered from the burdens of vehicle ownership. Fuel cost makes up between 50% and 60% of the cost of shipping goods overseas. Fertilizer production today requires natural gas, which has gotten significantly more expensive since the war began, particularly in Europe.<\/p>\n
Jet fuel prices have basically doubled in the last month, according to the International Air Transport Association. Since those prices account for something like a quarter of an airline\u2019s operating cost, that could soon make air travel\u2014and anything that\u2019s shipped by plane\u2014more expensive.<\/p>\n
And if all this adds up to an economic downturn, it\u2019s bad for big projects that need financing (even wind and solar farms) and for people who want to borrow money to buy a home or a car (including an EV).<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re in the market for a car, maybe this uncertainty is what you needed to consider electric. But until we\u2019re able to truly decarbonize not only our transportation but the rest of our economy, even this carless reporter is going to be worried about high gas prices.<\/p>\n
This article is from The Spark, <\/em>MIT Technology Review\u2019s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, <\/em>sign up here<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em>