The super "winner" of soaring oil prices: electric vehicles

Glonghui, March 9th｜The surge in oil prices may ultimately become a boon for electric vehicle manufacturers... Andrew Garberson, Head of Growth and Research at Recurrent, a company tracking electric vehicle data, stated, "Affordability was already the core issue for electric vehicles in 2026, and recent events will only further reinforce this trend." According to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), last Friday, U.S. retail gasoline prices climbed to $3.25 per gallon, up nearly 27 cents from a week earlier. The association noted that the last time a similar increase occurred was four years ago during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Meanwhile, AAA stated that the cost of charging an electric vehicle at public charging stations has remained largely unchanged—about 39 cents per kilowatt-hour. Data from Electric Choice, an energy trading platform operated by a consulting firm, shows that an average electric vehicle can travel about 33 miles per kilowatt-hour. This is undoubtedly expected to inject a boost into the currently sluggish electric vehicle markets in Europe and the United States. Garberson expects that new electric vehicles—such as the soon-to-be-released Rivian R2 SUV and Kia's EV3 compact SUV—will attract more attention than their gasoline counterparts. Tesla may also win customers with its lower-priced Model Y and Model 3. The Nissan Leaf, with a starting price below $32,000, is one of the cheapest electric vehicles on the U.S. market. "Every signal I see from the market confirms this: rising oil prices will only make affordable electric vehicle models more attractive."