Gasoline price decreasing- interest in hybrids

Last time I filled up it was $1.75. Hmmm, now when was that? Oh, well. In a month or so I'll have to fill up again. Whatever. Look at it this way: If gas prices go up high enough nobody'll be able to afford to drive but Prius owners and bikers. We'll have the roads all to ourselves, and no more traffic jams, at least not until Toyota really ramps up production. Now, wouldn't that be nice?

 

It isn't nearly high enough for that yet! I went to the grocery store yesterday. Parked facing a car with DC plates, lights and engine on. I was in the store for about 20 minutes, came back out, car still there, still running. Noticed a man and a rear facing infant seat in the back so I guess they were running the A/C. Just sitting there wasting gas and polluting the environment.

 

Gas taxes in the US are very low compared to other nations, but then we do not have socialized medicine and other socialized programs that other nations do. So to say that the US should have higher taxes is a very uninformed statement to make. How much does a trip to your doctor cost you? How much do you pay each month for insurance. What does higher education cost you? Anyway if you want to know what the taxes for gasoline are in the US go here. (it is from 2002 but hey good info none the less) US Gas Tax by STATE

The US tax is 18.4 cents per gallon plus state and local taxes.

Also according to the Toyota press release of June 22nd there is currrently still a backorder of 22,000 Prius. So I don't see any less demand anywhere.

 

jamarimutt: You surprise me. I thought you were one of us. Take a survey an you'll find that those who bought a Prius solely to save gas bought it for the wrong reason.

 

im sorry but gas is still more expensive now then it was when i decided to buy a Prius. to be honest with ya, other than the inner challenge of getting an extra mpg out of my Prius, i no longer think about gas mileage anymore. it was a major interest at first, but to be honest the "coolness" factor quickly took over and has become a huge source of pride when people ride with me for the first time.

 

Gas prices had nothing to do with my choice of the Prius. I wanted air bags, ABS, and the flexibility of the liftback (almost as good as a station wagon). Prius stood out above everything else due to the Kermit factor and the techno-geek factor. I'd have bought it even if gas had been 50 cents a gallon and it had cost $5,000 more than it does (provided that was MSRP and not dealer gouging!)

On the other hand, I don't think there are "right" or "wrong" reasons for buying the best car in the universe.

 

Well I bought my first gallon below 2.00 (1.999) as I predicted gas prices would go down prior to the election then up. I will still get my Prius sooner or later and I agree milage is not the only reason for getting this car the emissions are more important. Milage can be a motivator to lower emissions (less gas less burnt hydrocarbons). I also confess to the technogeek factor as a motivator but I had already decided my next car would have a gps mapping capability and I was not giving up the minimal computer I have in my present car giving me range, m.p.g. . I wish Toyota would have a system check though. I like being able to hit the button and go through the systems, oil life, even washer fluid. I still think we should start a carbon tax low at first with steady even geometric rise each year with the money going to infrastructure and most importantly research to free the economy from burning fossil fuels. We need to put bucks into reasearch.

 

yepper... Costco is selling gas at $1.91.9

 

It is this incredible energy density and portability that has made oil SO special and so wonderful for such a wide variety of applications. It has been an incredible subsidy from Mother Nature. And now, in the last days of oil, we will find it difficult to replace for all the applications we currently use it for. There are no substitutes for oil in aircraft or autos (well, fuel cells maybe some day at some HUGE cost...). Even railroads (as energy efficient as they are) will have to revert to coal or electrify at some point (costing BILLIONS in infrastructure, manpower and maintenance). It is this subsidy that has NOT been taken into account in the pricing of oil Letting the "market" decide what the value of oil should be has led to its use for things that should never have been powered by oil, placed our foreign policy in the hands of a group of corrupt, unstable and in some case purely fanatical countires and damaged the environment Subsidies are essentially funding of some commodity or activity that would not exist without that economic boost from the outside. Oil is such a subsidy. Our entire modern industrial world would not exist as we know it without the HUGE energy "subsidy" that oil provides. When the subsidy ends things will get VERY difficult for all of us, I am afraid. When Hubbert's Peak (also known as the Big Rollover) is announced, just as the domestic Big Rollover was in 1970, I would not want to be holding any stocks and bonds. The implications of the Big Rollover for energy pricing and stability in the world are not pretty.

Deffeyes in his book Hubbert's Peak which is all about oil, where it came from, how we find it and produce it, how much is left and what the prospects are for the continuation of life as we know it after it's gone says that one day his grandaughter will look at him and ask with incredulity "You BURNED it???", and he will reply, "Yup, we burned it. Sorry about that."

 

I don't know how many of the 22,000 on the waiting list are going to change their minds and not buy a Prius, but I wish that they would hurry up and decide, I'm getting tired of waiting for mine.

 

I was watching a "Modern Marvels" program on oil rigs on History Channel a while back. With current technology, we only extract approximately 20% of the oil from the fields with current technology. I would certainly expect to see technological advances come to the market that would make the oil companies able to go back and retrieve a large chunk of the leftover resources down the road. Of course, much of this would come about after the price per barrel supports the cost of implimentation. We aren't really "running out." It IS going to be getting harder to get to.