The Future of Gas Pumps: Will Electric Cars make them obsolete?

Gas Pump was one of the key areas of a driver’s life. However, with the advent of electric cars in the mainstream, drivers rely more on charging stations instead of Gas pump.

 

But switch to electric cars does not mean, the gas stations are completely done away with. In other words, in future with more and more electric cars on the road, gas stations need to offer other services that are useful for consumers.

Challenges faced by gas pump stations

Gas pump stations selling fuel have been dealing with low gas consumption over the past years. A combination of delivery services and people working from home has reduced the miles that people drive using their own cars.

The decline in the gas consumption leaves gas pump stations with few services and thus to stay head in the race gas stations need to offer different services. They can add the charging station along-side fuel pump.

However, this needs more planning in terms of station placement and infrastructure. The gas pump stations can also provide things like Amazon locker and return locations or dark kitchen that only offer food delivery. The stations can also start delivering gas to the house by figuring out the legal requirements of moving gasoline and safely transporting it.

Gas stations need to change to survive. One of the best options for gas stations to survive is to become a service station. It takes efforts to turn gas stations to EV battery-swap stations but can be done with proper planning and execution.

To survive, gas stations are testing more sustainable sources of revenue, adding car washes and expanding their store offerings. They are selling not just coffee but also fresh orange juices, sandwiches, and more.

EV charging can be added in the gas stations and this requires redesign of station site and it demands more power than traditionally needed by the service station. For survival in the long run the gas station need to revamp for future and work out new strategies.

As more cars go electric, there will be less gas station in future. However, switch to electric cars does not mean gas pump stations are doomed completely. Gas powered cars are cheaper to buy than the electric vehicles. Also, they are quicker to fill up the pump than to recharge it.

It is for sure that gas pump stations will not become obsolete so soon at least in many developing countries where still many people can afford to buy gas powered cars instead of electric cars.