by John Keller | Mar 10, 2011 | Fuel Price Management, Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
The 2011 Pricelock Fuel Pricing Survey report revealed 75% of the US Business Fleets surveyed said they are willing to drive out of their way to save 25 cents per gallon of gas, and 25 percent of those surveyed said they would drive five miles or more for such savings.Respondents included 451 executives, fleet managers and other industry professionals associated with small, medium and large fleets representing a broad range of industries.
The report also showed 65 percent of the U.S. business fleets surveyed are forced to absorb higher fuel costs directly and suffer the bottom-line impact, while only 16 percent are able to pass on rising fuel costs by increasing prices to their consumers.
by John Keller | Dec 2, 2010 | Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
Thirty years after exiting the fuel service business, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store will again be offering alternative fuel to their restaurant customers, this time via electric vehicle charging stations at 24 locations.
“In the early days, Cracker Barrel provided food for our guests and fuel for their cars. While we expect that use of the electric chargers will be light during this pilot project, making this available to our guests is consistent with our brand reputation of hospitality, service, and value,” CEO Michael Woodhouse said. The company removed fueling pumps in the early 1970s.
The project will allow guests to receive an 80% charge in under a half hour at the 12 participating Cracker Barrel locations with DC Fast Charging stations. Twelve additional locations will have the slower Blink EV L2 chargers. Installation is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2011 and to be completed within a few months.
It’s interesting to see new players enter the retail fuel market as electric vehicle charging stations slowly become available.
Source: NACS Online
by John Keller | Nov 22, 2010 | Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
According to an MSNBC article posted today, utilities companies in several parts of California, North Carolina and Texas are bracing for increased demand for electricity brought on by the popularity of electric vehicles in specific markets. Fuel Pricing Managers in these markets would be wise to keep a close watch on the growth of electric vehicles in their area, since electric vehicles are likely to have an impact on fuel pricing strategies as the overall fuel market ultimately shrinks in these areas.
Electric vehicle clusters are expected in neighborhoods where:
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- Generous subsidies are offered by states and localities
- Weather is mild, because batteries tend to perform better in warmer climates
- High-income and environmentally conscious commuters live
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The article goes on to name the specific cities of Santa Monica, Santa Barbara and Monrovia in California as likely electric vehicle clusters. Other likely electric vehicle clusters are Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary and Asheville, North Carolina; Orlando and Tampa, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Austin, Texas.
The increased demand is analogous to the advent of air conditioners in the 1950’s and 60’s, and utilities companies are doing their best to be ready. “Electric vehicles have the potential to completely transform our business,” says David Owens, executive vice president of the Edison Electric Institute, a trade group.
But many expect a bumpy road at first. Transformers that distribute power from the electrical grid to homes are often designed to handle fewer than a dozen. Extra stress on a transformer from one or two electric vehicles could cause it to overheat and fail, knocking out power to the block.
The “nightmare” scenario, according to Austin Energy’s Rabago: People come home from work on a hot afternoon, turn on the air conditioner and the plasma television, blend some frozen cocktail, start cooking dinner on an electric stove —and plug their car into a home charging station. Auto executives say it’s inevitable that utilities will experience some difficulties early on. “We are all going to be a lot smarter two years from now,” says Mark Perry, director of product planning for Nissan North America.
“It’s like you’re about to have a baby,” says Duke Energy’s Rowand. “You know it’s going to be good, but you also know there’s going to be some throw up and some dirty diapers, and you just hope that it’s something you are prepared for.”
Read the entire article here.
by John Keller | Oct 13, 2010 | Fuel Pricing Technology, Industry News
Recently three different retailers have announced they’ll be offering charging stations for electric cars. Two of the three are traditional fuel retailers: BP/Arco, and Murphy. The third retailer to announce the charging stations is Best Buy.
BP announced they’ll install 45 high-voltage chargers at various BP/Arco gas stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington and Tennessee. These sites are in cities and states that are part of the federally supported Electric Vehicle project, managed by the charging company ECOtality. The Electric Vehicle Project is operating with a $114.8m grant from the US Department of Energy to install 1100 public recharging stations over a three year period. Installation of these chargers at BP/Arco stations is scheduled to begin in March 2011.
Murphy Oil USA announced they will demonstrate a fast charger station at one of their retail fuel stores in Tennessee. Murphy is working with Eaton Corporation to use the Tennessee store as an initial test of the quick charger before looking at expanding their reach to Murphy’s other 1000 locations.
The current expectation is that the BP/Arco stations will charge a set dollar amount for two to three minute increments. Their fast chargers will be able to give an electric car 12 to 15 miles worth of power every five minutes. That means their chargers will be able to recharge the Nissan Leaf in 26 minutes.
Best Buy will offer lower volt charging stations at their stores, where it will take one hour’s worth of charging to provide the same 12 to 15 miles worth of power. Best Buy is considering offering the charging stations through a club membership or frequent-purchaser program.
by John Keller | Sep 9, 2010 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, PriceAdvantage
PriceAdvantage 3.3 is the latest fuels price management solution from Skyline Products and provides a fully web-based version that allows access from any mobile web-enabled phone or iPad. Volume targeting and performance measurements by day of the week, month, year-to-date are included. Enterprise global navigation enhancements are also part of this new version.
PriceAdvantage Web may be accessed by any browser on any device, including iPad, iPhone, Droid tablet, PC, Mac, or BlackBerry.
by John Keller | Sep 1, 2010 | Fuel Price Management Solutions, Fuel Price Optimization, Fuel Pricing Software, Fuel Pricing Technology, PriceAdvantage
PriceAdvantage 3.3, the latest fuels pricing solution from Skyline Products, includes key new features in direct response to customer input.
A new reporting system enables fuel managers to gain insight into market pricing trends, store profitability, and price history. Version 3.3 provides the first set of 8 reports that will be added to with new versions.
The Roles and Privileges feature controls who has what access to each part of the fuels pricing solution. Version 3.3 ships with a set of predefined best practice roles and privilege sets to provide built-in system security.
With Variable Volume Targets, Fuel Managers can now set volume targets based on month of year and day of week. Version 3.3 can look at past date ranges and show historical variances across months and days of the week, providing insight into typical traffic flow differences throughout the week and year. These variances allow the Fuel Manager to better understand realistic volume performance targets at each location.
