Discussion»Questions»Business» Gas stations require electricity to pump gas. They also have to have gas to pump. Is someone studying this to do better next time?
Not quite sure what you mean, Rosie, but the UK's Government recently announced that no new i.c.-engine cars would be allowed to be sold after 2040. The main replacement, so far at least, would be battery-electric....
I don't know what they would do with all the vehicle fuels still produced by oil-refineries along with the many other chemicals made from crude oil!
Juts occurred to me you might be referring to fuel efficiency. The potential energy in a tank of petrol of diesel oil is far, far greater than the electrical energy converted in pumping it into the car's tank.
Well gas stations could have generators kick in when/if electricity goes out. I think that's what they have in hospitals. I'm not sure how long the generators will work though but it seems silly to have gas available but inaccessible because of the lack of electricity. Hurricane Harvey knocked out some refining facilities so the cost of our gas went up. I don't know if Irma did the same thing but if it did then that lack will be exacerbated. You can't stop the wind. You can't harness hurricanes. Mother Nature has its way with us. One would think we would have more ways to mitigate the inconvenience/damage. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I know that the cost of gas in the UK is very high. I think I read years ago that when we in America were complaining about gas costing almost $5 a gallon your country's people were paying $10 or so? In California our gas always costs more because we have special formulas (more expensive of course) to fit EPA standards. We used to have more smog than we do because of that. But with Trump gutting all environmental protections that may no longer be true. Time will well. We shall see. :)
I suppose the filling-stations balance the cost of installing and maintaining generators against a few days' lost income from power-cuts. A hospital of course cannot do that.
I started my working life with what was then called the Post Office Telephones, at the time still state-owned. (It's now BT.) I remember the town's telephone-exchange had (still has?) an impressive stand-by generator in an adjacent room, along with ranks of big batteries that were kept on charge from the mains while supplying the low-voltage electricity the telephone system needs.
I don't know if the fuel sold in the UK has any of the additives California insists on; but it is all expensive due to high taxes. Both petrol and diesel have Customs and Excise Duty levied on them, and when Value Added Tax was introduced (invented and enforced by the EU though each country has it own VAT rates and exclusions) it was applied to the sum of fuel cost plus duty!
Presently petrol is about £1.20 a litre, so £5.45 per UK gallon.
£4.54 per US Gallon, if my arithmetic is correct - the UK gallon is slightly smaller than the US version.
By on-line currency conversion now, the above gives: $6.17 / US gallon.
The last time we gassed up at Costco (don't know if you have them in your country) I think the per-gallon cost was about $3.95. Costco is a big-box store with generally good merchandise somewhat cheaper than you can get elsewhere. It's a membership store. Their gas is cheaper about 99% of the time than you get elsewhere. Sometimes significantly cheaper..sometimes just a little bit. So for you it's nowhere near where it was a few years ago when it was at $10. That's when we in the states (well California at least) were flirting with $5/gallon. We never quite got there but we got pretty close! Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply Durdle and Happy Saturday. Condolences for the recent terrorist attack in London.
Costco... Not sure. If there are any on the UK they aren't in my area. We have the Co-op [erative], as a membership store of sorts. It was started in the North of England sometime early last century I think, to offer a good range of food to people at reasonable prices without too much money to spare; but as far as I know does not sell vehicle fuel, certainly not round here. I have a "Co-op Card" but have yet to take advantage of it! I refuse to have any so-called "loyalty cards" from the main supermarkets though.
We have Walmart, though it trades under the ASDA name of the British supermarket chain it bought. I don't know id ASDA sells petrol - my local branch does not - but generally the supermarkets' fuel costs are lower than in the regular garages - unfortunately this has driven many individual filling-stations out of business, a point we have to bear in mind when planning a long journey.
Long journeys in Britain may involve the "motorways". These have service areas with assorted up-to-price-down-in-value chain-cafeterias like Starbucks and Costa (which I call "Costalotta"), gee-gaw shops and filling-stations, but their goods and fuel are always more expensive than elsewhere. So much so I avoid buying food and drink and try to minimise refuelling there. I take food and a flask of hot drink with me.
Durdle 