But with this deteriorating tension in the Middle East, do we need to prepare ourselves for cost pressures at the bowser? Is the price of petrol about to go up significantly? Stephen Moyer is the CEO of the Motor Trades Association here in Wa and he joins me live on six pr right now today, Stephen.
Gaoli could hurt more than a be en apple punch.
Couldn't it the way that we've sent that tension in the Middle East, because we're not going to have as much oil now produced and available globally? Stephen, is that the reading that you have of what's happening over there in Iran?
Yeah, Well, the tip is that Iran's going to block off straight that supplies about twenty five percent of the world's oil. That's going to have a flow on There's no doubt about it. So I think we need to brace ourselves. We've had a very nice period of low petrol pricing, so I think we can brace our salts through something close to two dollars the way it's going, and.
When we get to the top of that cycle, it's always a Wednesday, so we're not far away from that. Stephen could it move as quickly as this week.
Look, I would be really cynical for anyone to put their prices up off the back of that. There's a two week supply lag, so you would expect retailers to do the right thing and keep those prices as they bought them at wholesale. I think what consumers should do is jump onto the US train issue to petroleum. You can pick up there the wholesale price every day, and then you can make an informed decision as to who's giving you a fair deal and who's actually ripping you off.
Because it went up about thirty bucks today. Oiled in it at the start of trade, and I don't know where we ended, but it just feels as though it's coming. And we haven't had had this conversation for a little while, Stephen.
It's been a while, and it's been lovely actually not to have to talk about high fuel prices. But I think we're back in there. And of course that always leads on to the old subject of evs and you know, should I go out and buy myself an electric vehicle to avoid the cost?
Well, it's good timing you say that, because new research that's just come out from the Micar Mobility Index shows there's a growing wave of caution amongst dozzies when it comes to evs at hybrids. Just one in four ICE drivers planning to now make the switch, a twelve percentage point drop since twenty twenty four.
Stephen, surprise, surprise.
No.
I think consumers are voting with their feet. Hybrid technology is the way to go. That's when a lot of people who want to be responsible with their fuel are pushing and evs. There's a number of problems only with the EV market right now, and it's not what a lot of people suggest is infrastructure. It's actually other terms like what is this car going to work in three
to five years time? The resale value. That's a real concern when you're a laying out between fifty and whatever top of the line you want to go to, and that car's dropping forty sixty percent every year in value, So that's a big problem. The range is still and then is a problem. I mean, you know, is it viable to say that I can do a weekend away without in stress? People are still very concerned about that.
And then of course there is the price, and most of the good offerings are still north of fifty thousand, which is ten thousand above what the average family spend on a new car.
And we had the subsidy end, didn't we only a couple of months ago, particularly for those who are trying to buy themselves a hybrid vehicle. Stephen, do you think that may have all of a sudden had people looking at the price of these things and thinking, oh, maybe not yet, it's just going to be a little bit more expensive.
No. Absolutely, it's got a correlation. We saw this with LPG Olie when there were subsidies in there for LPG, people were going crazy for him. As soon as the governments withdrew the subsidies, LPG industry wound up very very quickly. I think it's going to be the same with hybrid and EV technology. If government's not prepared to put in some serious incentives, people just will stay with the ice conversion.
And maybe they will bring back the incentives. If we say, crystal ball that two dollars alter price mark now for petrol going forward, Stephen, whatever happens over the coming weeks with the tension in the Middle East, then all of a sudden, hybrids and yes, evs might come back into the conversation for Australian motorists.
But people still need to make that assessment. Olio is to okay the premium mine that I'm paying get myself into an electric vehicle. Will I make that up in savings on petrol? You know the average family spends around two and a half thousand dollars a year on petrol. You know the cost of an EV is considerably higher than the conventional car of the same level.
Good on this, Stephen, thankes few time as always.
Good on you. Excuse me,