Buddy, can you spare an hour — or a day?

So, I had a meeting at 6:45 this evening, a twenty minute drive from my home. I left 30 minutes before because I knew I was low on gas and would need to fill up. I stopped at a local station and, just for kicks, decided to time the procedure. Getting out of the car, doing the debit card thing, pumping 16 gallons, driving out of the station and resuming my trip took exactly three minutes and thirty seconds. And I was good to go a further 450 miles.

If I had an electric car that needed charging, I’d have had to go out much earlier in the day, find a public charger, and wait anywhere from 25 minutes, to 4 hours, to 12 hours, depending on what charger I found. Or, if I had my own trickle charger at home, I could have stayed there all day while the magic, solar-generated electricity did its thing. A tad inconvenient, but I don’t think my green betters care about my schedule, so what?

Millions of Americans who park their cars on the street or in their apartment building’s outdoor lot (or indoor — not many landlords are going to install individual chargers for their tenants’ cars) and so can’t charge their cars at home don’t realize what’s coming down the road to smash into them in a few years; it should be fun when they do.

But what this year’s voters will notice is the price of Biden gas. On January 20, 2021 (I remember the date because it was Inauguration Day) I paid $1.69 per gallon to fill my tank: The 15.976 gallons I purchased today would have cost $27.14 back then; I paid $3.39 gal. today, for $54.16. That’s a $27.02 difference — double — and I think that difference will be a real attention-getter come November.