Gas prices making anyone reconsider?

[Steebu]

If GM offered a full electric version of todays Yukon/Tahoe/Escalade, would you buy it instead of the gas/diesel version? As they electrify these vehicles they get uglier and uglier, look at the new electric Silverado, it looks like the old Avalanche

As tech currently is for the next 5-8 years, no. Our family already decided on a gas/diesel SUV for distance travelling which would be my DD while my wife would take an all-electric car for short trips for kiddo doc appointments, her volunteer work, etc. So for the moment that means a Yukon for me and an Ioniq/bZ4x/whatever.

I would imagine there are lots of people in the same boat.

I do agree, however, that some EVs are pretty hideous ...

 

[Quark]

I am really unsure why people are freaking out over gas prices. These suv's are not little vehicles by any means. Gas prices wont stay at this level forever. Are the diesel people going to start freaking out because at least in my area and Im sure elsewhere is 60 cents higher (5.19 gallon) than premium. Diesel will go much higher before it is over. As firsttimetahoe above said so well and many others, if you are buying an $80000 vehicle, gas is probably not much of a worry. Maybe for those who are having issue with prices should have bought a prius or something similar instead. Here they are selling tahoes at 3000 over invoice for lot vehicles, if you order one, msrp. They are selling the tahoes as they come off the truck. Just be glad you dont own a big RV right now, those are the people I feel for. Just my worthless 2 cents worth.

I think I'll go with a new CT5 I'll just have to learn to pack better and take less. The decision is partly due to fuel prices and partly due to the large size of these vehicles. They've just gotten too large plus I'm ready to drive something a bit more responsive and fun. Gas prices are intentionally high and will stay that way in my opinion.

 

[R32driver]

Gas prices are intentionally high and will stay that way in my opinion.

I agree. They use any and all crisis situations to jack up the price of fuel. And what better way to steer the consumer towards going to an EV. Make fuel unaffordable to the lower/middle class and folks will be jumping ship from ice vehicles.

It really sucks for us business owners that rely heavily on fuel. We have a family farm that runs 8 diesel flatbeds (think kodiak c5500 size) that have to run blue dye "on road" diesel and fuel costs are going be significant this year. At least our tractors and harvesters can run off road red diesel that's a little cheaper, but the overall cost to run the farm this year is going to be through the roof and fuel will be a big part of it.

 

[Yukondenaliva]

It definitely has made a difference historically. Big SUV sales have gone dead in the past when fuel prices were high.
Even with a Diesel, which is near impossible to get right now because of constraints, my local diesel fuel prices run higher than gas so any savings is evened out...

If I had known that the 22 Yukon Denali I just bought required premium gas only , I would have never purchased it. I knew it had a bigger engine but didn’t know about the gas requirements.

 

[Baja_Bob]

GM could have designed this 6.2L engine to run on 87 octane just like in the 5.3L. Who says the fuel from the premium pump is actually 91 octane, it may have been close to 91 when delivered but sitting in the ground until being mixed with another batch causes the octane to diminish. When you drive off the dealer's lot with a full tank, you know the dealer used the cheapest gas possible.

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

If I had known that the 22 Yukon Denali I just bought required premium gas only , I would have never purchased it. I knew it had a bigger engine but didn’t know about the gas requirements.

Order up a Diesel, guessing there are plenty of people who will take that 6.2 off your hands and you won't even get hurt too bad.
If you have a Costco near, I suggest it...at our Costco, Premium is $0.20 more per gallon that 87 is at all the local stations (yes, it is $0.55/gal more than 87 at Costco).
Paid $4.29 for it 2 days ago...

GM could have designed this 6.2L engine to run on 87 octane just like in the 5.3L. Who says the fuel from the premium pump is actually 91 octane, it may have been close to 91 when delivered but sitting in the ground until being mixed with another batch causes the octane to diminish. When you drive off the dealer's lot with a full tank, you know the dealer used the cheapest gas possible.

They could have, but they didn't. Actually, GM wants the GVT to make the min Octane 91 or even 93, because they can actually build more efficient and effective engines that way (research it).

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

As for EV's...here is the quick math:

Total amount of gasoline consumed per day in USA in automobiles (From US Dept of Energy Web Site): ~330,000,000 gallons/day
Amount of energy in 330M Gal of gasoline: 115,000 BTU/gallon * 330,000,000 gallons = 37.95E12 BTU (~38 Trillion BTU)

Now the fun part. Lets approach a reasonable approximation of how much electricity we need based on the theory of conservation of energy.

Assume: If cars go all electric, we still need the same amount of energy to move them as we did when they were gasoline (yes, this may not be a perfect assumption, but let's start here).
So
If tomorrow we wake up and all cars are electric, we need the equivalent number of kWhr as BTU's consumed today in ICE vehicles to move the cars.

1kWhr = ~3412.14BTU

So, 37.95E12 BTU / 3412.1BTU/kWhr = 11.1E9 kWhr or 11.1 Billion kWhr

Now, from US Dept of Energy web site, capacity of the US electric grid is 1.1B kW

This means, the USA needs the entire output of the electric grid running full out for 10.1 hours to replace all the energy we burn in vehicles

Oh, you say EV's are "more efficient?" I will give you 2x

Now you just need the grid for 5 hrs a day to charge all the EV's...
During that 5 hrs, you can run no lights, AC, electrical machines, washers, dryers, industrial equipment, etc...just charge the cars.

Guess what USA, the current infrastructure will not support the entire fleet running on electricity...you will have to increase electrical generation and delivery by a factor of 42% to pull it off. (Or 21% if you think EV's are 2x as efficient as their ICE counterparts).
And, I didn't even count Diesel fuel....

 

[07Burb]

That was quick math??

 

[WalleyeMikeIII]

That was quick math??

Well, the quick math is:
330M gal of gas a day = Electirc Grid for 10hrs a day...

but figured the skeptical would want the "proof"

 

[ChemEng]

As for EV's...here is the quick math:

Total amount of gasoline consumed per day in USA in automobiles (From US Dept of Energy Web Site): ~330,000,000 gallons/day
Amount of energy in 330M Gal of gasoline: 115,000 BTU/gallon * 330,000,000 gallons = 37.95E12 BTU (~38 Trillion BTU)

Now the fun part. Lets approach a reasonable approximation of how much electricity we need based on the theory of conservation of energy.

Assume: If cars go all electric, we still need the same amount of energy to move them as we did when they were gasoline (yes, this may not be a perfect assumption, but let's start here).
So
If tomorrow we wake up and all cars are electric, we need the equivalent number of kWhr as BTU's consumed today in ICE vehicles to move the cars.

1kWhr = ~3412.14BTU

So, 37.95E12 BTU / 3412.1BTU/kWhr = 11.1E9 kWhr or 11.1 Billion kWhr

Now, from US Dept of Energy web site, capacity of the US electric grid is 1.1B kW

This means, the USA needs the entire output of the electric grid running full out for 10.1 hours to replace all the energy we burn in vehicles

Oh, you say EV's are "more efficient?" I will give you 2x

Now you just need the grid for 5 hrs a day to charge all the EV's...
During that 5 hrs, you can run no lights, AC, electrical machines, washers, dryers, industrial equipment, etc...just charge the cars.

Guess what USA, the current infrastructure will not support the entire fleet running on electricity...you will have to increase electrical generation and delivery by a factor of 42% to pull it off. (Or 21% if you think EV's are 2x as efficient as their ICE counterparts).
And, I didn't even count Diesel fuel....

There are dozens of articles on this. The US electrical generation capacity is over 4B kwh. Concensus seems to be that it would consume 25-30% of that generation capacity if all cars suddenly became electric.