Electric cars and solar are the hedge against this out-of-control energy crisis

A drone strike knocked out a major Saudi oil pipeline this week, cutting global supply by about 5% and pushing gas and diesel prices up. Drivers of gas cars have no choice but to pay more at the pump when something like this happens.

Electricity prices are climbing too, and for less dramatic reasons. Average US power prices have gone from about 13 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2020 to around 20 cents now, a jump of more than 50%. The Energy Information Administration expects wholesale power prices to keep rising, driven mostly by natural gas costs and the huge electricity demand from data centers and crypto mining. At this pace, some project US electricity prices could roughly double over the decade.

The point of the story is that homeowners have more control over this than drivers stuck buying gas. An electric car can charge from the grid, from rooftop solar, or from a home battery, giving you options a gas car doesn't have. Solar panels paired with battery storage can lock in your energy cost for years instead of riding rising utility rates. Vehicle-to-home technology, which lets certain EVs power a house during an outage, is also becoming more common. Trucks like the Ford F-150 Lightning, GM's Ultium-based EVs, the Kia EV9, the Tesla Cybertruck, and the new Model Y Performance all support this. Some utilities, including PG&E, now offer incentives — in PG&E's case, up to $17,000 — for homeowners who set up this kind of system.