After spiking to around $2.30 per litre Wednesday, gas prices have come down a bit Thursday morning.
Experts expect prices to continue to fluctuate until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved.
With fuel prices so unpredictable, Blair Qualey, president and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C., says more people are turning away from gas-powered vehicles.
Qualey says it’s all about savings.
“Whether it’s for a vehicle or other forms of transportation, price is always a big issue for everyone,” he said.
“But the cost of driving gas vehicles right now, with the gas prices, is really getting people thinking about it.”
Qualey says that with more electric vehicles set to hit the market, there are many incentives to buy a fuel-efficient car.
“The federal government came back in the middle of February with a $5,000 rebate on full-electric vehicles up to $50,000 in transaction cost, $2,500 on hybrids,” he said.
“So that’s really got a lot of people paying attention on the electric side.”
Related:
Qualey says it’s a good time for consumers who are concerned about gas prices because the market for EVs and hybrid vehicles is growing rapidly, with new Chinese-manufactured cars on the way.
“That recent announcement was actually a threshold of 49,000 vehicles,” he said.
“There’s a certain tranche of that will have to be vehicles priced below $35,000, and I think those will get a lot of attention. We already have a number of vehicles coming into B.C. that are made in China.”
Qualey adds that even if you still want to buy an internal combustion engine-only vehicle, modern engines and drivetrains are more efficient and could still save you more compared to an older model.
As of Thursday morning, gas stations in the Vancouver area were advertising a litre of regular gas for a range of prices between $2.17 and $2.28.
—With files from Raynaldo Suarez and Sonia Aslam