Great for everyone rich enough to buy a new electric car, but not so good for poor people who can only afford second-hand cars.

I disagree for three reasons:

First, there is a strong economic case that, if an activity harms society as a whole, policies that raise the cost of that activity to a level commensurate with that harm are good policies.

Second, it has been demonstrated time and again that keeping gas prices low is an ineffective and wasteful way to help the poor.

Third, as the price of gas rises the value of older, less efficient cars falls, so buyers of second-hand cars won't be too badly affected. Of course, it's a different matter for those who already own an inefficient car.

Old low maintenance cars can be a great deal even with $5 gas. How many mechanic trips does it take to justify doubling your gas mileage? (Depends on the car obviously, but it's a question any penny pincher will ask)

It is wonderful how altruistic people become against the poor if the subject are gas prices. Most do not care about health care, good education or equality of opportunities for the poor. But as soon as we talk about gas prices the poor are the number concern even for most neoliberal.

This is why the carbon taxes that are being introduced in Canada are revenue neutral (carbon tax revenue flows back to people via income tax cuts/credits). This way people aren't immediately negatively impacted by spiking costs.

The high gas prices though create a huge incentive for people to change their lifestyles and avoid high carbon priced goods. People that switch to a fuel efficient vehicle or just ride a bike instead get to keep their revenue from the tax cut and their savings from using less/no gas.

It's not a binary dichotomy between electric and ICE vehicles. The proliferation of SUVs is a completely preposterous phenomenon in an era where smaller, lighter, more fuel-efficient cars should be the norm.

But there's a bit of an arms race problem, people are afraid of being crushed by those gas-guzzling SUVs, which makes them want to buy equally huge vehicles for protection... Depressed fuel prices likely aren't helping either, if people had to pay more to fill their large tanks, they might also be looking longingly at something electric.

Right, I currently drive a very small car, but I am getting tired of not being able to see around every other larger car on the road. So I am tempted to buy something taller next time.

Yes, well, the free market does not handle negative externalities well. Thus, regulation or taxation to make heavyweight gas-guzzlers prohibitively expensive.

SUVs offer longer travel suspension and more ride comfort. It's not a hard sell.

Only the largest ones. Most are on a car chassis.

Universal basic income solves that problem. I'd rather pay someone to live than pay someone to burn fuel and blow exhaust into my lungs.

Is there anything UBI doesn't solve.

Of course, I come from a 1st world, EU country, where average national income is just over 10k Euro/year. Very few people buy new vehicles, even if they cost "just" 8k Euro. In here anyone buying a new car is very rich to afford it.

European fuels are easily 200-300% of the US price and people still drive fine. If you increased the price 2x again you would hear a lot of crying, but in the end if you have to drive to get to work you are going to buy fuel and burn it.