[bochoh]

I know this is sarcasm but for those people with big pickup trucks (I should say vanity trucks, not real work machines), you’re looking at 26 gallon tanks @ 4.20/gallon. If they’re doing that once a week (conservatively) plus a presumably large truck payment, they could more than pay for a Tesla all other things aside. I personally lease a Kona Electric which after rebates and incentives costs me ~$350 a month

[trgn]

+1 It's been almost two decades since the last spike, five since the oil crisis of the 70s. If you're buying 50k plus gas guzzlers, and then get squeezed when gas prices are going up, it's almost self inflicted by now. So many alternatives: electrics, small frugal cars, carpooling, telecommuting, ... Can't believe USA is still incentivizing this madness.

[ejb999]

...so again, those stupid poor people to dumb to buy Teslas.

[trgn]

No, my comment was that there's no counter-pressure to prevent people from buying gas-guzzlers, oversized SUVs and trucks and the like, that will be around for 10-20 years, and will continue to drive wasteful demand for gas. When prices rise, it's felt disproportionally in our wallets, because US's carpark are gas guzzlers on the average.

That's only possible because the negative externalities are not priced in.

You can get from point A-B in supreme comfort, in cars that cost half that, or that have twice the mileage. The reason cars are instead bloated and have low mileage is because of American's fetishization of size, and the ratchet of the safety arms race. To break out of this tragedy of the commons, the tax-code needs to incentivize smaller cars, electric cars, flexible work-arrangements, etc... and disincentive larger cars.

And to your point; those stupid poor people (your words) buy used cars, and these used cars were originally the wasteful new cars that the selfish sociopathic rich people (my words) bought.

[HideousKojima]

I have a truck that I got for cheap (under $4k) and never used as my main commuter car back when I was still commuting, but there are some very practical differences between a truck and a Tesla that most people wouldn't want to give up. Mostly in the form of cargo capacity and towing capacity. As stuff like the cybertruck and f-150 lightning trickle down into the used truck market they'll get more affordable to the average Joe, but for now it's out of reach for a lot of people. I do agree with you though that the people out there blowing $40k+ on a vanity truck could definitely go with an electric (or a much cheaper normal pickup)

[bochoh]

Yes I don’t mean to target anyone with real uses for a truck, more those using them to commute. I personally find myself wanting one all the time as a homeowner but can’t seem to justify it personally for the two or three times a year I would actually use it!

[FollowingTheDao]

I am homeless from a genetically induced disability and live in a 2001 Minivan that gets 25MPG. What do I do?