(The Center Square) – North Carolina’s traditional transportation energy prices are up 18.5% and diesel 31.7% on Day 10 of Operation Epic Fury.
Still running 21 cents less than the national average despite taxpayers having one of the highest fuel taxes at the pumps, the state’s averages for a gallon of unleaded gasoline ($3.26) are up less percentage than most across the country. In some places, the escalation is between 25% and 30%.
A day before Epic Fury began in Iran, the statewide norm was about $2.75. It was $2.76 on Day 3.
Diesel per gallon is $4.69, up $1.15 in the last week.
Global energy infrastructure has been impacted by the strikes from America and Israel on Iran, and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Combustion engine consumers make up more than 8 million vehicle registrations in the nation’s ninth-largest state.
North Carolina’s electric vehicle charging rate average, according to AAA, is 40.6 cents per kilowatt-hour, up 3 cents in the last week. The national average is 41.8 cents per kWh. More than 100,000 zero-emission vehicles are registered in the state. At the start of 2025, the state norm was 33.5 cents per kWh and the national was 34.7 cents per kWh.
Twenty-two states have lower average prices for a gallon of unleaded; 32 are lower for diesel; and 18 plus the District of Columbia are lower in electric.
Among the 14 major metro areas, the least expensive average for unleaded gas is in the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton area at $3.18. The most expensive is the Durham-Chapel Hill metro area and at the coast in and around Wilmington at $3.34.
Diesel is the most consumer-friendly ($4.37) in the Asheville market.
North Carolina’s 41 cents per gallon tax rate for 2026 is only less than California (61.2), Pennsylvania (57.6), Washington (55.4), Michigan (52.4), New Jersey (49.1), Illinois (48.3) and Maryland (46).
Motor fuel taxes in the state fund the Department of Transportation’s highway and multi-modal projects, accounting for more than half of the state transportation resources. The revenues go into the Highway Fund and the Highway Trust Fund.
