#HTE

The Wave of the Future: Mobile Gas Stations That Come to You

Years ago I heard an older Briton explaining how, as a child, the tales of his first visit to America shocked his English friends at home. “In America you can get a pizza delivered to your house,” he told them.

“WOT?” they said. “You mean, ready to eat?!?”

Here in NYC you’ve long been able to get everything delivered to your door, from Ukrainian desserts to books to illegal drugs hidden in a pizza box. Across the country, Amazon has now acclimated everyone to having anything delivered. Where we once went to stores, we now wait by the buzzer. But if there’s one thing I never imagined being delivered, it’s gasoline.

Not to your home, of course. But now a rash of startups armed with pickup trucks and smartphone apps will deliver gas directly to your car’s gas tank, topping it off when you’re not even there. Whether it’s parked outside your house overnight or sitting in the parking lot at work, you can leave it empty and come back to it full. Once you’ve joined their app and hooked up a payment system, you just punch in the desired time and leave your gas door open.

There are at least six players in this market:

Yoshi charges “no fees other than the cost of gasoline” for non-members, though it’s not clear how they peg their prices; members who pay a $15 monthly fee pay prices “set to be competitive with the lower priced gas stations in the area.” They cover Atlanta, Nashville and the San Francisco Bay area.

Filld charges “the lowest price of the three stations closest to you plus a small delivery fee, typically $3.” They cover Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

WeFuel charges a $7.49 fee per fill up and covers Los Altos, Menlo Park, Mountain View and Palo Alto.

FuelMe charges “a small delivery fee,” which sounds fishy since that takes longer to type out than a dollar sign followed by a number. Also, bizarrely, their website doesn’t even mention what parts of the country they cover.

Purple offers prices “competitive within the average fuel cost in your area,” and charges a $6 fee for gas delivered in one hour, or $4 for a three-hour window, their only two options. They’re serving Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Seattle.

GasNinjas has the most insane pricing: “We’re offering free delivery and you pay the same price as at the pump,” they claim. Their only region is Miami.

It will be interesting to see which one comes out on top, if any. I for one like that there’s at least a half-dozen players all battling it out; competition is good for consumers and it helps keep the economy stimulated.

I’m certain there’s a subset of drivers willing to pay for the convenience of not making a trip to the station, the “time is money” crowd. And services like these will presumably also appeal to people who work late and don’t like the thought of driving into a sketchy gas station after hours.

As for how the companies themselves make money, it appears they buy their gasoline wholesale and in bulk. But it’s not clear if one will become more profitable than another, nor even if any of them will survive; as with earlier disruptive businesses like Airbnb and Uber, lawmakers have yet to get a handle on what is and isn’t quite legal.

For instance, Bloomberg has reported that several months ago, Fire Department officials began poking their noses into these unregulated trucks driving around and dispensing gasoline, apparently didn’t like what they found, and made proclamations like “It is not permitted,” from a San Francisco Fire Department spokesman, who urges anyone witnessing these refueling acts to drop a dime on the perpetrators.

An L.A. Fire Department Captain was a little more conciliatory, saying that “at this time is it’s not allowed as per our current fire code,” but that they “are exploring a way this could be allowed with some restrictions.”

Chris Aubuchon, Filld’s CEO, had the best (and most Silicon-Valley-esque) quote: “You can never ask for permission,” he said, “because no one will give it.”