3/17/23 Big Oil Prepares for Upheaval at the Gas Station Electric vehicles are a small but growing share of cars on the road. Energy companies already need to prepare for how they will change the gas station. On Thursday, Paris-listed TotalEnergies agreed to sell around 2,200 gas stations in Europe to Canadian convenience-store company Alimentation for €3.1 billion, worth $3.3 billion at current exchange rates. It is the second big deal in this space this year. BP paid $1.3 billion for TravelCenters of America in February, which has 280 locations on U.S. highways. The shift to more sustainable sources of energy will change how people use gas stations. Instead of everyone filling their tanks at the pump, some drivers will need fast-charging points, while others might eventually want low-carbon fuels. Gas stations will need to cater to a wider variety of technologies than in the past. It will also be important to be a good retailer. A customer refueling a conventional car spends five to six minutes on average on the forecourt. Even with fast charging, an EV owner might hang around for 25 minutes. Some oil-and-gas companies think this is an opportunity. Shell, which owns 46,000 gas stations worldwide, says EV owners spend twice as much in the convenience store attached to the forecourt as traditional car drivers. The length of time they need to spend recharging is likely a factor, though early adopters of the expensive new technology also tend to skew wealthier, so the effect may weaken as EV sales grow. 3/19/23 DEEM Enterprises' 'Car-Centric' Plan For Bader Field On AC City Council's Wednesday Agenda A Memorandum of Agreement with DEEM Enterprises to move forward with a $2.7 billion car-centric development at Bader Field is on City Council’s agenda for Wednesday, Mayor Marty Small Sr. said Sunday. Small has supported the plan to build upscale housing and a 2.4-mile raceway for high-powered cars owned by residents there. It would include about 4,000 units of housing, retail and other space, plus park areas. 3/20/23 Proposed Bill Banning Some Popular Candies Debated in California California’s AB418 would ban brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and titanium dioxide, as well as the dye Red 3. The bill would “prohibit a person or entity from manufacturing, selling, delivering, distributing, holding, or offering for sale, in commerce a food product” containing any of these additives. Among the foods that could be impacted: Skittles, Pez, Hot Tamales, Sour Patch Kids and many others, including some breads, soups and sauces. Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel hopes to force the companies to change the product nationwide: “It is unlikely they'll have one recipe in California and one in Oklahoma,” he said. 3/20/23 Oregon House Votes To Let Oregonians To Pump Their Own Gas The Oregon House on Monday overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow self-service options at every gas station in Oregon, raising a real possibility the state will cast off its place as one of just two states still forbidding many drivers from touching the pump. The chamber passed House Bill 2426 on a 47-10 vote, with several lawmakers saying their constituents had made it clear they’d like the legal right to fill their own tanks. The bill now moves to the Senate. Like similar proposals over the years, HB 2426 would not put an end to the full-service fueling that most Oregonians are used to. Rather, the bill would enable all retail gas stations in the state to designate up to half of their pumps as self-serve. Stations in Oregon’s most populous counties would still be required to employ at least one attendant, and to charge the same amount for gas from full-service pumps as they do at self-serve. 3/21/23 Going Up! When You Can Expect NJ Gas Prices To Start Rising Prices at the pump in many parts of New Jersey continue to hover around $3 a gallon but they could soon start to go up. Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service, said demand for gas is still not very strong right now. But starting in April and going to Memorial Day, “you’re going to see increases that maybe take you up to a Major League batting average of $3.40 or $3.50, something in that neighborhood.” He said in the coming weeks, “you’ll see an increase of about 15 to 30 cents, mostly in April and early May.” 3/21/23 7‑Eleven Launches EV Charging Network, Will Eventually Expand To Speedway Gas Stations 7‑Eleven is planning to build one of the “largest and most compatible electric vehicle fast-charging networks of any retailer in North America.” The network is known as 7Charge and it promises to deliver a “convenient and reliable fast-charging experience” at select 7‑Eleven stores. Several locations are already open in Florida, Texas, Colorado, and California but more are on the way. 7‑Eleven is also planning to expand the network into Canada soon. . . Pricing will vary by location, but it will be determined by energy usage and/or time spent charging. Furthermore, people who leave their vehicle connected after their charging session is complete, could be subject to additional fees. While chargers are only open in four states at the moment, 7‑Eleven said once their network expansion is complete they’ll have one of the largest charging networks on the continent. The company went on to say there will be chargers across its entire family of brands including Speedway and Stripes gas stations. 3/21/23 U.S. Court of Appeals Court Upholds $5B-Plus Swipe Fee Settlement A federal appeals court is letting stand a $5.6 billion antitrust class action settlement involving more than 12 million retailers that accused Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. of improperly fixing credit and debit card fees. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of New York denied a bid to dismantle the class action settlement by gas station operators that objected to it. The agreement, which was priced at about $6.2 billion before opt-outs, includes $523 million in legal fees, reported Bloomberg Law. . . The settlement resolved claims that Visa and Mastercard overcharged retailers on interchange fees, or swipe fees, when shoppers used credit or debit cards, and barred retailers from directing customers toward cheaper means of payment. 3/21/23 California City Rethinking Part of Gas Station Ban A California city that previously banned new gas stations is rethinking part of the legislation. Last year the city of Novato passed an ordinance that banned the building of new gas stations or significant expansion to any of the 12 existing stations within city limits. The city’s planning commission is now looking at amending a section of the ordinance that addresses construction at existing sites, specifically the part that prohibits reconstruction if damages exceed 50% of the site’s assessed value. The planning commission unanimously voted last week to eliminate the section related to rebuilding sites and also added language that all construction must be done within two years of any damage to avoid blight. 3/22/23 TikTok-Fueled Kia, Hyundai Thefts: NJ AG Calls On Companies To Do More State Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin joined attorneys general in 22 other states in a sharply-worded letter to Kia and Hyundai, telling them they haven’t done enough to stop the thefts of certain models whose surge has largely been blamed on a TikTok challenge. The thefts have not only left some car owners vulnerable but have led to deadly crashes and some insurers have even stopped providing coverage for the models in question. And several police departments in the Garden State have issued warnings to drivers, or offered free wheel locks to residents with certain year models. Many of the Kia models manufactured from 2011-2021 and Hyundais made from 2015-2021 lack the electronic immobilizers that tell the car something other than a key has been inserted in the ignition in an attempt to turn over the engine. Immobilizers are standard equipment on most other vehicles made during that time. |
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