The route of our fuel problems
Going electric is more practical than you might think. (Photo: Michael Marais)
Gas prices are reaching an all-time historic high. A liter costs up to P92.50 to P99.45, and this week, they’re set to go up by another P4.30 to P4.50, bringing fuel prices to over P100 per liter.
In the US, gas prices are up to $5 per liter, the highest they’ve been since the 2008 financial crisis. Fuel prices have gone up by a whopping 58% since last year. There are a few things to blame for the price hike: Russia’s war on Ukraine, OPEC slashing oil production, and an increasing demand as economies recover and people go back to the office.
Unfortunately for all of us, experts in the industry predict that oil prices will continue to go up. And when oil prices go up, it triggers a domino effect on the rest of the economy. We’re already seeing fare hikes and increases in the price of food and other necessities—this is all because we’re so reliant on fossil fuels, which are actually destroying our atmosphere.
So amidst all this, do car owners really have to just sit around and deal with rising fuel costs?
Time for Teslas
With gas price hikes and our impending global warming-induced doom, now seems to be the perfect time to switch to sustainable and cheaper options: electric vehicles.
In 2021, sales of e-vehicles doubled compared to the previous year. In fact, nearly 10% of global car sales that year were for e-vehicles, which is four times the market share as that of 2019. As of now, 16.5 million cars have been sold worldwide, which is three times as much as in 2018.
E-vehicle registration also went up by 60% in 2022, and sales have continuously gone up as well, with 2 million sold in the first quarter alone, up by 75% from the same period in 2021.
Sales are going up partially because of the gas price hike, but also because governments around the world are incentivizing consumers to switch to electric cars from fuel-burning ones in an effort to curb global warming. Beyond that, some experts are saying that it might actually be more economical for an average person to make the switch to e-vehicles.
Electricity is cheaper than gas
The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that at the rate that gas prices are increasing, fueling a car could cost up to five times as much as it would to maintain an electric vehicle of the same model.
Electric engines are also more efficient than gas engines. About 85% of the energy that goes through an electric motor is converted into movement, more than double the 40% that is converted by a gasoline engine. Plus, it’s also just better for the environment, as they emit 60-68% less greenhouse gasses than fuel-powered vehicles.
So while there are definitely still some downsides to electric vehicles, people are seeing more and more reasons to make the switch. More than half of car buyers are now saying they want their next car to be electric-powered.
Hopefully, more people make the choice to transition to e-vehicles soon, as we need one in six vehicles to be electric-powered to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Right now, even with the rising demand and sales for e-vehicles, only one in 70 are. So we have a long, long road ahead of us.
