Gas delivery apps are new on-demand fad
SAN FRANCISCO — The latest target for disruption by the tech industry: gas stations.
In San Francisco on Monday, smartphone app Filld began dispatching drivers with pickup trucks loaded with gasoline to fill people's tank. A Filld customer sets the exact location of his or her car, chooses a delivery window and releases the gas flap. A driver arrives in a small truck, pops open the gas tank and fills it with regular or premium unleaded gas. Filld charges per-gallon rates comparable to nearby stations and tacks on a delivery fee.
The app says it has thousands of customers short on time and fuel in the 180 square miles around the Bay Area and is most popular with minivan-driving parents.
"Going to the gas station is just a barrier for people during the course of the day," said Chris Aubuchon, the chief executive officer of the 18-month-old start-up that has raised $3.25 million in funding. "Nobody loves it but everybody has to do it."
In the on-demand economy, it would seem no errand is too trifling or mundane to become a smartphone app. A year ago, The Verge wrote about WeFuel as "Uber, but for putting gas in your car." "We have reached peak startup," the article declared.
Since then the on-demand economy has gone into overdrive. It's not just getting food or household supplies from DoorDash or Postmates.
Booster Fuels, Filld, Purple, WeFuel and Yoshi are among the gas-delivery start-ups operating in San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities across the country.
COST ADVANTAGE
These start-ups say they are in a very serious pursuit of the $300 billion U.S. gas market, and they would appear to have at least one competitive edge other than a time-deprived, road-weary consumer base: lower overhead than gas stations, which have property and equipment costs.
There is nothing new about the delivery of fuel. Construction companies and rural customers have depended on it for years. But this is certainly a 21st century digital twist on the concept, and regulators are trying to get a handle on it.
Officials in some cities are sounding the alarm that transporting hundreds of gallons of gasoline in a pickup truck may not be safe.
“It is not permitted,” Lt. Jonathan Baxter, a spokesman for the San Francisco fire department, told Bloomberg.
The Los Angeles Fire Department told Bloomberg it is coming up with a policy around gas delivery.
"Our current fire code does not allow this process; however, we are exploring a way this could be allowed with some restrictions," said Capt. Daniel Curry, a spokesman for the city’s fire department.
Booster Fuels says it temporarily halted operations in the city of Santa Clara, Calif., in February but recently received "permitting guidance" for operations to resume from the fire marshal.
Steven D. Emerson, an expert in the safe handling of flammable and combustible materials, says app-based gas delivery "can be done safely but it must be done carefully and thoughtfully."
"There would be some good questions to ask about what sort of compliance these companies have established with existing standards for delivery. Of course, this may be an area that no one anticipated so there may not be consensus industry standards," said Emerson, founder of Emerson Technical Analysis.
Bottom line: "I wouldn't say it's a totally preposterous idea," he said.
Aubuchon says it's all too common for ideas born in Silicon Valley to create the need for new industry standards, and he claims Filld complies with county, state and federal regulations and hires experienced drivers who are hazmat certified.
"Innovation tends to be a little bit ahead of regulation," he said. "I think we are providing a valuable service to society."