Gas Cost Has SUV Drivers Fuming; Electric-Car Owners Not Shocked

Accustomed to riding high as kings of the road, sport-utility drivers are getting less-than-royal treatment at the gas pump these days--while drivers of electric cars are enjoying a moment of vindication.

Fernando Suarez is one of those regretting his purchase of a Ford Explorer, one of America’s official yuppie vehicles of the 1990s. Miles per gallon: 14 to 21.

Standing at the gas pump on Saturday, watching glumly as the numbers spun ever higher, Suarez admitted the recent spike in gas prices has done more than put a dent in his wallet--it ruined his family’s Easter vacation.

“I had to cancel a trip to Tahoe and Mammoth because the gas was going to cost me more than the accommodations,” the 55-year-old Costa Mesa father lamented.

Now his Explorer is locked in the garage. But the vehicle he was gassing up at a Santa Ana station, a Dodge Caravan, isn’t much better: 12 to 26 miles per gallon. The total to fill ‘er up: $30.

“It’s outrageous,” he said, shaking his head.

Like many, Suarez is smarting over gas prices that have skyrocketed almost 48 cents per gallon in the last six weeks as a result of a series of refinery stoppages, skimpy reserves and inflated costs for crude oil. His vacation, he estimates, would have cost about $300 in gas alone.

For drivers of electric vehicles, however, the surge in prices has provided an occasion for smugness.

At about 1 cent per mile, the cost of travel is at least 75% cheaper for those who plug their cars into the wall every night.

Gardner Harris of Garden Grove, for example, calls his General Motors EV1 “a joy to drive. It’s an electric Corvette . . . [and] it’s dirt-cheap to operate.”

Harris said he never buys more than $15 worth of electricity a month to power his way around town, driving as much as 80 miles a day.

“I really hate to see an SUV being driven by one person,” he said. “That really bothers me. . . . They’re gas hogs.”

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Two decades ago, an oil crisis transformed the automotive scene, forcing many Americans to dump their gas-guzzling road cruisers for smaller and more economical cars, California Energy Commission spokeswoman Susanne Garfield said.

Today, bigger is better--again. More efficient engines and lower gas prices have reversed the trend.

“Our memories are very short,” Garfield said.

And though the recent jump in gas prices has made ownership of sport-utility vehicles more painful, many remain loyal.

“This is so irritating,” Brian Flynn, 35, said of the $6 increase recently to fill up his Ford Explorer. “But I’d still buy another SUV. The price of gas just doesn’t make that much difference.”

Indeed, many car shoppers at the Santa Ana Auto Mall on Saturday were indifferent to the price increases.

“How many miles to the gallon?” Wednesday Rodriguez asked as she kicked the tires of a used Jeep Cherokee. “21? Hey,” she said, “that’s not too bad.”

Rodriguez said she and her husband of seven months need something roomy--a “family car” for a baby someday.

Mark Kako, 32, plunked down $29,000 Saturday morning for a 1999 green four-wheel-drive Isuzu Rodeo, averaging 16 miles per gallon in the city and 20 on the freeway.

Gas prices “go up and down,” he figured. “It’s like a yo-yo. I’m not concerned.”

Prospective buyers already know they’ll get poor mileage, Isuzu salesman Craig Malloy said. “People who buy SUVs don’t care about gas prices,” he said.

It is exactly this attitude that electric car owners--who see themselves as pioneers--find so abhorrent.

Fittingly, electric-car owner Greg Hanssen pushed off Saturday for a 250-mile trip from Irvine to the Arizona border in his EV1. He guesses the trip will cost him about 1 cent per mile.

City driving, he said, costs him about $15 per month in electricity.

But until the rest of the country catches on, Hanssen--an electrical engineer--can’t help being a little smug.

“Certainly, there’s nothing I enjoy more than seeing the price of gas go up,” he said. “I hope it encourages people to not be driving so far on those gas-guzzling SUVs.”

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According to EV1 salesman Carl Burkard, who works at a Saturn dealership in Santa Ana, environmental consciousness andan adventurous spirit are needed to make the switch.

There are currently about 600 EV1s on the road, mostly in California, he said.

“People who own these cars are making a statement,” he said.

Current models lease for about $429 per month, including maintenance.

But for those just more comfortable behind the wheel of a vehicle powered by gas, relief is on the way.

Experts predict fuel prices will come down again as refineries increase production.

“Prices should start leveling off soon,” Garfield said.

But just wait: The summer driving season--when prices traditionally rise every year--is just around the corner.