How’s that electic car looking now?

I’m not completely opposed to high gas prices; I feel that if prices were generally high, fewer people would buy guzzlers like SUVs–and eventually, we’d have cleaner air and fewer destroyed streets.
But what we really need is some predictability. What we have now is not only record high gas prices, but incredible volatility. In the last 24 hours, gas prices here in San Jose have jumped up to 40¢. Just this morning, I saw gas priced at $3.38 per gallon. If we had worked up to that price gradually, we could have found ways to absorb the rise; but overnight?
There was a huge line at a gas station across the street from the one priced at $3.38; people were rushing to fill up at $2.98 when they saw where the future was heading. I guess that people who can afford SUVs are frowning a bit now, but what about people who have to drive to low-wage jobs in cars that don’t perform well and who now must suddenly pay twice as much as they used to for gas?
A couple of months ago, GM collected up all the electric cars they had been leasing and converted them to scrap. I keep wondering what kind of collusion goes on between car manufacturers and oil companies…