The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the US rose to $4.99 on June 10, according to AAA data. In 13 states, pump prices already broke the $5 per gallon barrier earlier this week.
The threshold is a psychological one: While $5 isn’t the highest inflation-adjusted price Americans have ever paid for gasoline, for many US drivers, it’ll be the biggest number they’ve ever seen on their local gas station sign.
Gas price sticker shock appears to have prompted many Americans to research electric vehicles (EVs). Since the start of May, US Google searches for “electric car” are up by half and searches for “EV” are up by a third.
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