[rootusrootus]

I am very interested to see how this plays out. Gas prices drive interest in electrics, and electrics drive down gas prices. Maybe the future of the consumer car market is going to split largely between gas-powered pickups and electric-powered sedans/crossovers.

This of course completely ignores the potential effect of self-driving cars. I'm still skeptical we'll see large scale automated driving for at least 10-20 years.

[mikeash]

I think gas prices are driving EVs less and less. It's still a factor, for sure, but things like performance, noise, maintenance, and convenience are driving it heavily as well. Of all the reasons I love my Model S, fuel savings are pretty far down the list, although I certainly don't mind!

[Robotbeat]

Yeah, that's the thing. If gas ever gets back up to $4/gallon in the US, EVs which are just somewhat competitive at $2/gallon are going to be radically competitive.

However, if EVs become widely used, then the lower demand for gasoline will mean gas prices stay low. So long-term, EVs need to compete with low gas prices anyway, even if prices creep back up in the near-term.

But yeah. Once batteries are cheap enough, then electric vehicles may actually become cheaper than internal combustion engine vehicles /upfront/, in addition to the much lower running costs.