Fuel prices: They aren't really that high

Despite the recent significant increase in fuel prices at gas stations due to the Russian war against Ukraine, experts point out that consumers still need to spend less money in relation to their income than ten years ago. For example, the percentage of income spent on gasoline and diesel is still lower than in 1997, as recently calculated by Gernot Sieg, the Director of the Institute of Transport Science at the University of Münster, for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Since then, the price of gasoline has risen from 85 cents to 1.54 euros and now to over two euros. However, during the same period, workers have experienced a net pay increase from 1,334 to 2,088 euros. In addition, thanks to technological development, fuel consumption, at least in the case of a VW Polo, has decreased from 6.8 to 5.3 l/100 km. With an annual mileage of 12,000 kilometers, the driver would need to spend 3.8 percent of their income. In 2012 it was already at 6.5 percent. Under current conditions, that would only be the case again at 2.40 euros per liter.

"Even though car drivers have become accustomed to relatively low fuel prices and price increases are painful as they reduce consumption in other areas, this cannot be an argument that plays a decisive role in decisions about oil embargoes against war criminals," Sieg judges.

It is important not to dramatize things, agrees automotive expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer from the CAR Institute. After all, for the average German driver, it is about 40 or 50 euros per month. That is nothing compared to the situation in Ukraine, the "car professor" points out. Colleague Stefan Bratzel from CAM also gives reassurance. He notes that over 40 percent of passenger kilometers by car are for leisure and vacation purposes. Reducing that by just ten percent would leave even two euros more per liter in the wallet. Additionally, in his view, one can also switch to a bicycle. That's not a sacrifice. The ADFC also adds in this context that half of all car trips are still under five kilometers, and a quarter are even under two kilometers.

"We assume that most shorter trips can be made by bicycle," explains ADFC chief Ann-Kathrin Schneider to the SZ.