Alabama gas prices jumped 34% in a single month. I drive a full-size electric pickup truck and paid 8 cents per mile while my neighbors paid 18. This isn't an environmental argument — it's a math problem.
Americans have seen this cycle before: gas prices surge, and family budgets feel it almost overnight. Instability tied to the Iran conflict has rattled global oil markets and sent gasoline prices climbing. Here in Alabama, the average price of regular unleaded jumped from about $2.61 per gallon a month ago to roughly $3.49 today, according to AAA. That's an increase of about 88 cents per gallon — a 34% spike in a single month.
I drive a full-size electric pickup truck. My fuel cost didn't change.
My truck averages about 2 miles per kilowatt-hour — that's on the less efficient end, as you'd expect from a full-size pickup. With my home electricity rate at around 16 cents per kilowatt-hour, that works out to about 8 cents per mile to drive.
Compare that to a gas-powered full-size SUV averaging about 19 miles per gallon. At $3.49 per gallon, that's roughly 18 cents per mile. Even in the biggest, least-efficient EV body style on the market, I'm spending less than half what a comparable gas driver spends — and my cost didn't move when oil markets did.
| Vehicle | Efficiency | Fuel cost | Cost per mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Silverado EV (Staley's truck) | 2 mi/kWh | $0.16/kWh (home rate) | ~8¢ |
| Gas full-size SUV | 19 mpg | $3.49/gal (Alabama avg.) | ~18¢ |
Fuel is only part of the equation. Electric vehicles have fewer moving parts than traditional engines. No oil changes, no exhaust system, no transmission fluid, no timing belt — and none of the components that quietly accumulate repair bills over 70,000 miles in a gas vehicle.
After more than 20,000 miles on my truck, my routine maintenance has consisted almost entirely of rotating the tires and refilling the windshield washer fluid. That's it. The mechanical simplicity of an EV doesn't just save money at the charger — it removes an entire category of automotive expense.
The other economic advantage is one that only becomes obvious during a spike like this one: price stability. Electricity rates can fluctuate, but they move slowly and predictably — not overnight because of a conflict on the other side of the world. Charging at home gives families a cost of driving that's insulated from global oil shocks.
Electricity is also produced domestically. It doesn't flow through the Strait of Hormuz. That's not just an energy-independence talking point — it's a real household budget advantage that compounds every time geopolitical instability sends a barrel of crude spiking.
America cannot control global oil shocks. It can reduce its exposure to them. For policymakers, the lesson is direct: investments in EV infrastructure, domestic battery manufacturing, and grid modernization aren't just environmental initiatives. They are part of building a stronger and more resilient American energy economy — one less vulnerable to decisions made in Riyadh or Tehran.
For drivers, the calculation is simpler. When gasoline prices spike 34% in a month, the economic advantages of electric vehicles become very hard to ignore.
As an EV owner, I see the savings every month. They grow larger every time there's a conflict abroad that has nothing to do with me but used to show up directly in my fuel costs. The current gas price surge is a reminder of a vulnerability that EV drivers have already opted out of — and one that more Southern drivers could opt out of too.