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This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.

August 21, 2013

eGallon and Electric Vehicle Sales: The Big Picture

For certain markets, time of year has a distinct effect on prices and/or sales volumes. For instance, sales of Halloween favors tend to be high in October and decline in November. But that drop in sales doesn’t spell doom for candy and costume shops. Similarly, falling peach harvests between August and October don’t say much about the overall health of the orchards. This seasonality is why we often look at year-on-year growth instead of month-to-month growth to determine market dynamics.

July exhibits some of that same seasonality for the electric vehicle (EV) market. Taken in this context, both the EV market and eGallon are performing extremely well.

Just like gasoline, the eGallon price tends to rise with the summer heat. This mostly results from increased electricity use associated with air conditioning. But despite this, the eGallon to gasoline ratio has held steady at about a 1:3—meaning that a gallon of unleaded gasoline is about three times as expensive as an eGallon. The average eGallon price for the country, which is based on May’s electricity prices, is now about $1.22—four cents higher than last month. Since our last eGallon update, gasoline prices have actually jumped about 7 cents to $3.56—though they too are down compared to this time last year. Use our eGallon tool to see gasoline and eGallon prices for your state. For the complete story, see the Energy Blog.