When We're All Driving Electric Cars, What Will We Be Spending Gas Money On?

An interesting combination of reports, compiled by the New York Times, shows that Americans saved money at the pumps from cheaper gas is mostly going to more gas and more expensive gas.

The average American should have saved roughly $41 from cheaper gas prices, according to a report by JPMorgan. Instead of taking home those savings, most people only took home $22. A separate study by Brown University and University of Chicago researchers indicated that most people were buying more expensive gas when gas prices dipped.

The phenomenon, which is called “mental accounting,” roughly translates to people spending a target amount of money — regardless of price.

According to the report, people spent a disproportionate amount on gas compared to the price per gallon.

The JPMorgan study compares gas spending between December 2013 and February 2014, when prices averaged $3.31 a gallon, with gas spending by the same people in the same period one year later, when average prices were one dollar lower. The study found that the average American spent $136 per month on gas during the high-price period and $114 per month on gas during the low-price period. While the price of gas fell by roughly 30 percent, spending on gas declined by only 16 percent.

We already know that spending more on gas isn’t necessarily better, but according to the Brown University and University of Chicago study people still treated the lower gas prices as a holiday rather than a savings event.

In 2008, when gas prices were falling due to a plummeting economy, researchers found that “although almost all indicators of consumer spending and well-being were plummeting, households substituted to higher-octane gasoline.”

So, you know, what will we spend gas money on when we’re all driving free* electric cars.

*Electricity isn’t free.