Gasoline Demand -- September 7, 2023

Locator: 45564B. 

I requested an Altima for our cross-country trip last weekend. I was not happy when they "gave" me a Toyota 4Runner:

The Honda Civic:

The Nissan Altima:

The Toyota 4Runner:

So, on the highway:

• the Civic: 40
• the Altima: 36
• the 4Runner: 19
  

Not happy.

We drove the 4Runner hard. It was a great road car, but we averaged 22 mpg. My Honda Civic would have gotten 36 mpg without a problem. 

36 vs 22.

If gasoline in the 4Runner cost me $600 on the road trip, it would have been $367 in the Altima, even less in the Honda Civic. In the big scheme of things, $600 vs $400 was no big deal, but still ...

So, what did I see on our 3500-mile-five-day-round-trip-Dallas-to-Philadelphia-and-back?

• almost no Civics
• the highways were filled with 4Runners.

When Americans travel cross-country, what do they drive? Civics or 4Runners?

Answer: 4Runners.

4Runners: 19. Civics: 40.

All of that, to re-post this:

Gasoline demand, link here:

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Norway

The Norway experience has been the same. Norway has the highest penetration of EVs in the world (fact-check me on that) and yet their gasoline demand is at all-time highs.

Apologists for EVs say that it takes awhile (apparently, ten years or more) for all those yearly EV sales to start to make a difference. It appears it will take a long, long time for EV penetration to make a diffference. 

If Norway has led the western world in EV penetration and gasoline demand is still increasing, it's going to take a long, long time to see any impact in the US when it comes to EV penetration and gasoline demand. 

I could write at length about that but our road trip to Philadelphia and back to Dallas explains it all. Americans would rather drive in road comfort in a 19-mpg 4Runner rather than be cramped in a 40-mph Honda Civic. 

Best-selling vehicle in the US? A pickup truck.

In addition, vehicle registrations: 

Right now, WFH (work-from-home) for white collar is a "thing." That's not going to change any time soon.

Whatever small change EVs may make with regard to gasoline demand, these small changes will be more than offset by what Americans actually drive.