nickdawgy

Figures. In 20+ years of driving I have never seen that. At least I know it's not my car. I hope that I didn't mess the car up. I only went to this Arco because it was on the way home and I was literally on fumes (which I usually never let happen).

Giantrobo

Yep. I use Arco's normally cheap gas but they are the only stations that regularly give me problems using their nozzle with my Toyota. They almost always stop right away with only a drop of gas dispensed so I have restart a few times or hold the it the whole time.

zyzzle

Heh.. $85 for 18 gallons of gas is "cheap", yes, yes! I kid, but I've never had this happen, either, in over 40 years of driving. The self-turnoff pops, and I'm done. Even at "cheap" Arco stations!

I'm seeing a $4.79 average in my area now for 87 octane. It's very high for October, when supposedly the "summer blend" 30% increase in price should be over. Instead, it's just that "6%" (!!!, no way, more like 20-30%) inflation and greed ("supply problems").

I hope to be done with the pump entirely if I can get an acceptable all-EV to replace my Prius Prime, which I do drive 90% as an EV now, on its puny 30-mile electric-only range.

BobO'Link

Electric Vehicles are "The Emperor's New Clothes"... You're simply trading one "overlord" for another.

slop101

Yeah, we got a plug-in hybrid recently, and while we do spend less on the extra electricity than we would on gas (especially now with gas's inflated cost), it's not that much of a difference, really. Convenience is definitely worth it though!

Barth

Dude, stay out of the Tesla thread with that talk unless you want your character attacked and left for dead! Maybe you've been and escaped. :-)

fujishig

Yeah, especially in SoCal where I know zyzzle lives, in the Summer when the electric bill is high that car is going to be charging at the highest tier (I hear that it's much better to go tiered service so at least you get a discount for charging at night)

zyzzle

That's 100% true, especially when you're forced to pay 58 cents per kilowatt hour at home to charge your EV. That's $58.00 for a Tesla "fill up". Yes, a *little* bit less than gas would be, but not really that much less. The convenience is what everyone seems to enjoy, and nobody really stops to calculate that their new overlord, the rapacious electric company, can and will soon surpass the cost of gasoline, at their sheer whim and caprice of greed. The more people adopt EVs, the sooner this will happen.

But, don't tell the fine folks in the Tesla thread this, they're blinded to that fact. Or, at least it will take them 20 years to finally see it. But, paradoxically, I do support EVs as they're a better tech and so much cleaner than gas-powered vehicles.

Toddarino

$3.04 a gallon over here. Filled up yesterday for $41. It also helps I live a few mile from work and my primary taverns.

parrotheads4

Let’s go Brandon!

Ted Todorov

Aren't solar panels/roofs a requirement for new houses in California? Obviously if the electric grid stays identical to what it is now, charging EVs will become more expensive, but the grid is bound to change, no matter what efforts are being made by the fossil fuel industry to sabotage that change. New solar power is already cheaper than coal. The price of solar panels has been dropping faster than even the greenest, most pro-renewable energy organizations were predicting. I'm sure wind turbines prices are dropping as well. Battery prices certainly are, and they are needed to replace peaker plants.

As someone who drives an EV in NY/NJ I can assure that here the cost is a small fraction of the gas/oil cost of an ICE car. And over one third of the CO2 emissions that are causing climate change come JUST from ICE vehicles. We can make a difference and save money, and have a far more enjoyable car in bargain.

AGuyNamedMike

What Ted said.

If I didn't live in the subarctic I'd switch to EV myself. But gasoline-powered 4x4/AWD are the best option for up here given the conditions and the second highest effective electricity rates in the nation (Hawaii got us beat).

[Current Fairbanks gas price $3.75 ($3.59 at Costco). Current effective GVEA electricity rate 24¢ per kWh.]

zyzzle

Yes, solar panels are required on all new home construction in Calif. Although, in my area, there aren't very many NEW home construction sites. All the land has been zoned and used up already for existing homes, many of which are 70 - 80 years old by now. And, yes I agree that cost of solar panels themselves has been dropping very quickly, but *installation* costs are what is skyrocketing! Anything involving "human labor" has gone up 30 to 50% since COVID, in my findings. Because of that, solar installs are still very expensive, unless they're "cooked" in to a new home tract.

I hope you're right about the electric grid changing. But, that's one of the reasons they claim they "need" to raise prices: for "renewable energy infrastructure", whatever that means. I think it means getting off "dirty" means of power generation (burning coal) to "clean" sources (wind, solar, etc).

slop101

Yeah, looked into installing solar panels - yikes!
Whatever energy costs we'd be saving would be dwarfed by the cost of installing those.
It's like pay a big lump now, or stretch it out - I'd rather stretch it out, thank you.

zyzzle

Yeah, totally not worth it on an older home unless you're a power glutton who uses many megawatts of power per month and / or has an electric bill of thousands of dollars each month.

Ted Todorov

If your "older home" isn't a piece of junk, it is always worth it. The NYC walkup we live in was built in 1897. Houses last a long time. Roofs, on the other hand, don't. Typically every ~30 years they need to be replaced. So the next time the roof gets replaced it should be with a solar roof. Much more attractive than solar panels and likely better looking than the roof it replaces.

The high cost of installing solar panels is unfortunately a political failure. We are frantically trying to "save" the jobs of people in the fossil fuel industry, instead of moving them to the renewable energy industry, which is pretty much guaranteed to be a healthier and safer job. We make fun of retraining people, like teaching coal miners to be computer programmers. But installing solar panels is something that practically any fossil fuel worker can easily be retrained to do, with a better life in the bargain.

zyzzle

Yes, that's a huge distinction: installing solar panels on top of an older roof (say, 15-20 years) vs replacing your entire roof with a solar roof when it comes time to do so. I 100% support the latter on older homes -- it'll add resale value and improve the home, but not the former -- the "value" it adds is inversely proportional to the age of your roof and proportional to the cost of your power bill.

Trouble is, installation companies seem to want to only install solar panels on top of your existing roof, and it's hard to find one who will replace the entire roof de novo with a *solar* roof, which looks so, so much more attractive. As to cost, I'm not sure, but what, solar roof would cost twice what putting solar panels and inverters on top of existing roof would ?? I haven't priced either option personally, since my power bill is always so low (< $30 per month) due to intentional sipping of power (about 50 to 60 kwhr used per month on average).

Ted Todorov

This is right back to the political failure -- California passed a bill requiring solar for new houses but not for roof replacements. If solar roofs were a legal requirement for new roofs, suddenly the industry would materialize. We can't have Tesla do everything -- they can't keep up with demand.

DJariya

Twitter

Why So Blu?

^ I'm going to say that's photoshopped. It's just under $6 here.

DJariya

Yeah I don't think it's real either. The pricing structure doesn't make sense too.

Especially with 0 1 2 3 and 6 7 8 9

Bronkster

I go to a local ARCO here, and noticed it went up to $4.79 for regular - up from $4.59 a few days ago. I also see that all the pumps have the little Biden "I did that" stickers pointing to the price.

DJariya

Gas is absolutely killing me right now. 1/2 tank the other day cost me like $43. Luckily I don't work 5 days per week, so my full tank lasts about 10 days, but still.

zyzzle

This is probably nothing. I'm sure we'll see $6 in Calif. this year. And also many further increases in electricity, so that the Tesla owners aren't fogotten, as well. Electricity is already up to 55 cents per kilowatt hour at "peak" time in my area. Absurd.

People in Calif. have become so weaned on expensive gas and utility prices, they probably won't even beef until gas hits $10 a gallon and electricity is up to $1.00 per kilowatt.... In these days of hyperish-inflation, that's coming very soon.

It's becoming absolutely impossible to live frugally.

Why So Blu?

I've been using Metro Micro since Halloween. It's my newest amazing discovery. It's only $1 per ride and it's APP driven like Uber/Lyft but instead of it being door to door it's bus stop to bus top. I use it when I go and meet friends at the bar or restaurant and as long as I stay in my service zone, it's all good. They keep saying that they will increase the fare but one of the drivers told me they've kept it at $1 for more than a year due to demand. They have a pretty cool fleet. The other day I was picked up by a Mercedes mini-van of some kind. They also have an EV, which I have not ridden in yet. I hate the regular bus and subway in L.A., but the MM is awesome.


https://micro.metro.net/