What Is To Become Of Suburban Service Stations As EVs Take Over?

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There are still new service stations being built around me in my home town of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Every time a see one going up, I think, “I hope that the business lasts long enough to repay the costs.” I don’t visit a servo any more. When I first got my Tesla, I used to pop in for a tyre pressure top-up, but now I have a battery operated pump. I don’t like slushies and I won’t buy an overpriced cheese toastie, so that is the end of my relationship with petrol stations. Unless of course one has a high-speed charger in a convenient location — say, in the middle of nowhere, like Alpha.

Or perhaps I need ice for the Christmas BBQ. One of my correspondents told me, “I’ve had my car a few hours and done 22 km and have already visited a petrol station. I was dropping my wife to a work function and she needed ice. I thought she was winding me up! No problem. I made amends and went home and charged off excess solar today. I love the occasional visit to petrol stations but not to buy fuel.”

One of the responses to his post was: “On my first day of ownership the wife ran out of fuel in the ICE. I had to fill up a Jerry can and put it in the Tesla!!”

I know how he feels. Before I went all electric with garden equipment, I would go to the servo and fill up my fuel tin to power my mower. Got some amused looks and comments from the other car drivers in Warwick.

Some families still like to do the ice cream loop, others need an urgent early morning bottle of milk. I wonder if servos will just become overpriced convenience stores. Of course, when you are heading down the highway and the granddaughter has just got to go — a servo is the best place for her to relieve herself.