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Americans Upset Over High Gas Prices Should be Demanding Alternatives
For as long as I can remember, gas prices have been a hot topic in American politics, affecting everything from groceries to electronics. More than anything else, the price of gas appears to have been the single most unifying point of anger in this year’s election season. With this in mind, it’s wonderous that the conversation hasn’t internally combusted into a truly unified national effort to finally free the country from the stranglehold of fuel costs. The American people often say they want change, but are they willing to finally embrace the change necessary to make a difference?
Many have argued that by increasing the immediate supply of fuel here at home, we can solve the problem of rising fuel prices—it hasn’t worked. Despite the United States producing more oil than ever in its history, gas prices have continued to rise over the long term, contributing to inflation and raising the overall cost of living. Historically, rising fuel prices have almost always correlated with increasing inflation, except in 2025 when President Trump’s tariffs caused inflation to grow independent of fuel prices. Though electricity prices have increased over time as well, the inflation adjusted price has only increased about 17% over 35 years. Fuel costs are much more volatile.
Given the palpable anger about fuel costs, Americans should be channeling it into a national effort to move on to alternative ways to power their vehicles. Instead, the Ford F-series pickup is still the best selling new vehicle in the U.S., followed by the Chevy Silverado, another pickup. Coming in at number five, the Tesla Model Y demonstrates that there is notable consumer demand for EVs, but no other EVs currently make the list of the top 25 vehicles by sales.
For many years, the argument in favor of EVs was about environmentalism. With climate denial being a major driving factor in American politics for decades, a cultural battle began to erupt over the necessity of EVs, with one side vilifying the role of ICE-vehicles in driving climate change, and the other adamantly opposed to government efforts to aid a transition to a vehicle technology seen as deeply flawed. Battle lines were drawn, and the continuing war of attrition over the future of personal transportation has restricted the country’s ability to insulate itself from international oil market price shocks.
Today, the core of the issue is more about competitiveness and economics, especially as the vast majority of Americans now understand that climate change is real. In Europe, which has long-been affected by higher fuel costs, EV sales are rising significantly. As EV sales rise globally, international automotive conglomerates that prefer to use shared platforms and carry-over parts will prioritize streamlined design, production, and sales strategies. If the U.S. auto industry, which employs nearly one million Americans in manufacturing alone is going to survive in the long term, it will need to adapt to global, not just domestic demand.
While demand for new vehicles currently favors traditional ICE-powered models, there is significant movement in the used vehicle space, where used electric vehicle sales have accelerated significantly to now sell an average of 13-days sooner than used gas-powered vehicles. This is particularly noteworthy, as within the U.S. there are normally more than twice the number of used vs. new vehicle sales annually. Given that rapid depreciation is often a complaint about the economics of buying an EV, that may actually be feeding wider adoption of EVs in the current economy.
Even with these shifting trends, it’s not entirely clear that the U.S. has gotten serious about truly ending its economic vulnerability to fuel costs. Compared to China, the pace of EV charging point installation in the U.S. is miniscule. In 2025, China reached a grand total of 20 million EV chargers, having raised the number from 10 million to 20 million in only 18 months. By July of this year, it exceeded 23 million, of which over 5 million are public chargers. Comparatively, by October of this year, the U.S. had almost 260,000 public EV charging ports across 80,000 charging stations—a number that matters most when addressing issues like range-anxiety. Similarly, the end of the federal EV tax credit slowed EV sales, and caused several vehicle manufacturers to reassess or eliminate the EV models they planned to offer in the U.S. This creates chaos from a manufacturing and development perspective, ultimately wasting time and resources as it takes time for auto makers to shift production.
It seems that even though Americans are mad about fuel prices, they aren’t mad enough to truly begin changing in revolutionary fashion. It’s understandable—American car culture has been powered by fossil fuel and it’s been incredibly convenient…or has it? As much as we benefit from quick fill-ups, volatile prices, long queues at gas pumps, and smoggy days seem to be just fine for many. But I have a feeling that once more people realize just how convenient it is to charge at home for predictable (and possibly home solar-powered) rates, that we might finally see some relief from the chaos of the international oil market.
