Gas Prices At Lowest Level In Four Years Add More Energy to the Perfect Storm of Problems Battery-Electric Vehicles Face in 2025

As President Trump’s second term begins to hit its stride, one reminder of the way things were back during Trump ‘45 is falling gasoline prices. The latest report is that gasoline has hit its lowest price level in four years in the United States. There are multiple reasons for this meaningful drop in fuel prices and likely many resulting changes to the American auto industry. One potential impact could be even worse than predicted battery-electric vehicle sales in 2025. 

GasBuddy has a new report on gas prices, which are now poised to fall below $3.00 per gallon as a national average. “The average price of gasoline in the U.S. hasn’t been this low in March since 2021, when the pandemic significantly reduced demand and kept prices suppressed,” said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy. Data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country show that America’s national average price for gasoline is down 8.9 cents from a month ago and is a whopping 36.7 cents per gallon lower than a year ago.

Although the average is not yet below $3.00 per gallon, GasBuddy points out that “the most common U.S. gas price encountered by motorists stood at $2.99 per gallon.” Very high prices in some states that engage in energy self-flagellation skew the average higher than it would be otherwise. California drivers, for example, endure prices close to double what Mississippi drivers enjoy. $4.60 on average vs. $2.60 according to GasBuddy. That’s the state average. AAA data reveals that California residents of Mono County, California, are paying  $5.71 right now for regular gas. Although many may assume that California is “primarily EVs,” the fact is that a supermajority of California's new car buyers still opt not to buy an EV. Our source for that little detail is Governor Gavin Newsom of the Golden State.

We cross-referenced AAA’s average gas price data today with GasBuddy and found a tight correlation, though there are minor differences in the data. According to AAA, today, March 10th, 2025, the national average for regular unleaded is $3.089. The AAA data show that the average price one year ago was $3.394. A 10% reduction in fuel prices would save the average motorist with an average MPG of 26 about $180 per year in fuel costs at these prices. Hybrid drivers would save comparatively less, but they already enjoy a very low cost per mile of energy. Using the national average price of gas, the cost of energy per mile of a hybrid like a RAV4 Hybrid is around 7.5 cents per mile. A Camry hybrid owner's costs are about 6 cents per mile. 

Related Story: Busting a Myth - Hybrid-Electric Vehicles Don’t “Just Run on Fossil Fuels”

Hybrid-Electric Vehicles Offer the Best Cost Per Mile of Energy In Many Areas
As battery-electric vehicles show a general stall, reduction in sales, or slow growth, depending on the brand, manufacturers with hybrids are seeing exploding hybrid sales. Hybrids have more than twice the market share in America that battery-electric vehicles do.

Hyundai most recently posted its U.S. vehicle delivery results for the month of February. It showed its battery-electric vehicle sales up about 6%. Not bad. However, hybrids were up an astounding  57%. Toyota North America, combining Toyota and Lexus-branded vehicles, finished up 2024 with slightly fewer than one million hybrids being delivered. Toyota's hybrid-electric vehicle average days on the dealer lot are the envy of the industry, with virtually no wait for the vehicles to be acquired by new owners after arrival and preparation by dealers. The Toyota RAV4 Hybrid finished up 2024 with an astounding 29.3% increase over 2023 levels. With hybrids already a very attractive green vehicle option for many buyers, dropping gasoline prices and higher electricity prices in EV-buying blue states will turn battery-electric headwinds into a hurricane gale. 

Do you think lower gas prices will slow battery-electric vehicle deliveries in America? Tell us in the comments below. 

Image Notes: Image of gasoline price in late February 2025 taken by John Goreham in Concord, Massachusetts. Chart of EV market share 2023 and 2024 by John Goreham.

John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ grammar and punctuation software when proofreading and he also uses image generation tools.