One of the biggest reasons I drive electric, and have been doing so for nearly six years, is to stick it to Big Oil.
Big Oil destroys the air we breathe, the planet we live on and human and environmental health. It does so all in the name of generating as much profit as it can — for as long as it can, regardless of the consequences on humanity, both present, and future, as well as on other living beings on the planet.
I find this reprehensible, especially given that we have a clear, affordable, clean, efficient — far more efficient — alternative in electric cars fueled by what will eventually be 100% renewable energy generated electricity.
It makes me happy — gleeful, really, to know that not a single penny from my pocket has gone directly to Big Oil to power the cars I have driven across the past six years.
Yes, I know, I am still implicated in the whole Dirty Fossil Fuel system because of everything from food delivery to plastics, etc. — though 70% of oil consumption in the world goes to fuel transportation. And most of our sucking down of Big Oil’s product goes to transportation in the form of single individuals driving around in gasoline cars that could fit at least four, if not eight, people in them.
So, how much money have I NOT forked over to Big Oil over the past six years?
Well, that kind of depends on what kind of gas car I would have been driving had I not converted to an all-electric car in February of 2014.
I definitely would NOT have been driving a gas hogging SUV, but probably a fairly fuel efficient ICE.
Before I got my leased 2014 LEAF six years ago, which I replaced with a leased 2017 Chevy Bolt in September 2017 — I drove a 1992 Acura Integra I bought new in 1992 for 21 years. The Integra got about 25 m.p.g. So, let’s use that figure for the mileage end of the ZERO MONEY TO BIG OIL equation.
The other part of the equation, of course, is the cost of gasoline. Gasoline has unfortunately been — in my view — far too cheap for far too long in the United States in particular, except for in California. I am going to go with the figure of $2.75 per gallon to calculate how much money I have NOT GIVEN TO BIG OIL over the past six years, and 70,000 miles of driving.
Drum roll please 😉 ==>
70,000 miles ÷ 25 m.p.g. = 2,800 gallons of gas NOT USED
2,800 gallons x $2.75 = $7,700
So, Big Oil did NOT get $7,700 from me over the past six years!
Sure, that’s a “drop in the bucket of Big Oil”. But it is STILL $7,700 of my hard-earned money that DID NOT GO to Big Oil. That money went elsewhere, though I can’t say for sure where — because I haven’t kept track.
As far as I am concerned, ANYWHERE I would spend my money elsewhere is better than my money going to Big Oil.
Some of that money, perhaps about one-quarter of it, did go to my utility, Xcel Energy — for whom I pay two cents extra per kWh for a total of 13 cents per kWhfor so-called “Wind Source” energy. I do not have solar anymore, thanks to divorce, which forced me to sell my solar-powered home in Aurora, Colo. in Nov. 2015 — although I did get almost two years of solar-charged driving in before I had to move.
How does my $7,700 not poured into the pockets of Big Oil fit against a bigger picture of money losses incurred on Big Oil by electric cars overall?
It’s a bit difficult to get that big picture, I discovered.
The best I could do is a Bloomberg Business article published in March of 2019 that asserts that EVs have “displaced about 3% of global oil consumption since 2011”.
That might not seem like much, but it adds up to millions and millions of dollars in lost revenue for Big Oil — with much MORE REVENUE LOSS to come, according to many analyses, including this particular Bloomberg article which predicts that “electric vehicles could displace much as 6.4 million barrels a day of oil demand” globally by 2040.
No matter what the predictions, YOU can choose to make a big dent in Big Oil’s “suck” from your OWN pocket book. You can, if you choose, eliminate the BOS — BIG OIL SUCK — 100% from your life. You can do this by switching to an electric vehicle and, ideally, powering it with renewable energy generated electricity.
Indeed, the electric grid all over the world is increasingly moving to renewable energy generated electricity and it is virtually certain that in many, perhaps most, places it will be 100% renewable by 2040, or 2050, at the latest. Electricity tends to be A LOT cheaper than gasoline in most places in the world as well, often less than one-quarter the cost of gasoline, or even less. So, if the eliminating the BOS angle isn’t for you, there’s the savings angle, too.
But, for me, eliminating the BOS — the Big Oil Suck — is SUPER satisfying, and I am glad to be able to say that nearly $8,000 of my mine has NOT gone to Big Oil over the past six years. For me, this will definitely continue for the next six years, and the six years after that, and the six years after that — until . . . well, until I am no longer on this earth and can no longer choose not to give my money directly to Big Oil.
My hope is that by then, Big Oil will be small oil, and that, instead, we will have a 100% electrified world with a 100% electrified transportation sector running on 100% renewable energy generated electricity.
Until then, Big Oil will continue NOT to get my $$$, not one cent!
🙂