Tesla CEO Elon Musk defined energy independence for an electric-vehicle world. You have to have the batteries.
Responding to a tweet Wednesday which said there is no security without energy independence, Tesla’s (ticker: TSLA) CEO agreed, adding “and lithium batteries are the new oil.”
Batteries might be the future. For now, oil is still the new oil. The U.S. uses about 20 million barrels of oil used in the U.S. each day. (About 8 million barrels are imported.) And about two thirds of that oil ends up in gas tanks, according to the Energy Department.
Prices for gasoline are soaring, partly as a consequence of the war between Russia and Ukraine—something well beyond the control of most Americans or American corporations.
Consumers and businesses feel the pain of higher prices, though. The U.S. consumer price index rose 9.1% year over year in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Gasoline prices are a big part of overall inflation. They are up about 63% year over year.