Gasoline Tech?

We’re in the business of disrupting legacy industries, like ammunition. Now we have an idea for better way to fill up your tank...

Excluding electric vehicles, you go to a gas station on a regular basis to fill up your tank, right? Imagine if you could pre-buy your fuel then get it when you want it. Sounds simple, but I don’t think this concept is out there yet and I believe it could have the potential to disrupt the entire industry built up around delivering gas and diesel. 

I could be wrong but after a non-exhaustive search on the interwebs, all I could find were “pre-paid fuel cards” where you put a certain amount of money on a credit card that is used at a certain name brand gas station. Basically like a VISA gift card of X dollar amount.. Not what I’m thinking. 

Let’s imagine a different scenario (which might start to sound familiar to you)…  

You sign up for an account with a certain oil company, let’s just say Chevron. You create your online account with them and connect a credit card or ACH. An online dashboard displays the median price of gas in your area for each grade of gasoline. This is the price you pay. When the median changes, so does the price you pay and the value of your accumulated gasoline.

Moving on, once you have an account open and a payment source connected, they send you a credit-type card that can be used at any of their stations, but instead of dollars you are drawing down gallons you’ve already accumulated in your account. That is the difference from anything else out there.

Your account is online and easily managed from anywhere. You can track how many gallons of each grade of fuel you have available to use. 

You set up an autobuy for your gasoline so it adds gallons to your online account on a regular basis. You select the grade (87, 89, 91) maybe they even offer specialty gas like 93, E85 or Ethanol free for you to stock up on, set a budget and frequency (starting to sound familiar?). You could even do a one time large quantity buy when the price is low. 

Now you can dollar cost average your fuel buying or time the market and buy more when the price is lower. With this concept, you could “stockpile” gasoline in your online account over time so it is available when you want it. If prices shoot up, you can draw down your supply of prepaid gasoline instead of paying whatever high price is listed at the pump.

If gas prices go higher (as they surely will) and you have excess gallons that you don’t need, you could sell some of it back and make money on the price difference. Wait out the high prices then do it all again after the price drops. Futures markets exist today so large companies can lock in prices when they are low, this is a consumer facing version of a gasoline futures contract.

It would provide a financial buffer as well. When the price is low and you have the money you could build up a year supply like an emergency reserve. If you needed the money you could sell some of it off. Brilliant! Why put your money in a savings account denominated in a depreciating currency and paltry interest rate, put it in an asset class you know you'll use: gasoline or diesel.

You could exchange one grade for another, or from gas to diesel if you buy a different vehicle. Maybe there is a way for you to “gift” or transfer gallons to another person. If they already have a card then all they would have to do is go to the appropriate station and fuel up… no cash required. The transaction is entirely in gallons of gasoline. Wouldn't that be amazing in a world of inflation with our dollar buying less and less?

Honestly, if some oil company came out with a service like this I would sign up. Sounds like it would be a convenient way to “stock up” on gasoline in something other than depreciating dollars. My budget would buy more when the price is lower and less when the price goes up. I could maintain a certain level for emergency use or just hold it as a store of value.

Now let’s look at some of the negatives just to be sure this is a well thought out concept… 

You would be tied to one brand of gasoline. Probably not a big deal since most people prefer one station over another. 

You wouldn’t get to price shop gas in your area. I’m not sure how many people do this. With the constant fluctuation of the price of gas I personally just go to a handful of stations and pay whatever the pump price is when I need gas.

You could unexpectedly draw down your gallon reserve if you have an autobuy and the price of gasoline shoots up (you buy fewer gallons). Minor problem because you would just monitor your gas stockpile and adjust your autobuy accordingly. 

SHTF / natural disaster scenario you might not have access to the gallons you stocked up on unless the fuel trucks were running and refilling the stations. So you would lose temporary access to those gallons until the stations start getting fuel again. The cure for this is to make sure you always fill your tank when you hit ½ tank and to have some extra ammo cans… er… gas cans at home ready to use in an emergency situation or to “get out of dodge” quickly. 

As I'm sure you guessed by now, I used the AmmoSquared model for the basis of my gasoline fuel tech concept. There are actually a surprising number of parallels between gasoline and ammunition that would make it a very workable idea. 

I feel like if an oil company copied the AmmoSquared model and used it for fuel, they would make a killing. It would be a benefit to consumers and allow people to “stockpile” a tangible asset in something other than depreciating Federal Reserve Notes (unlike a prepaid “VISA” type card). This would work because you aren’t buying a “specific” gallon of gasoline - any gallon of the grade you want would work. It is fungible to a certain extent, like gold or ammunition.  

An on-demand stockpile of gasoline would alleviate the issues of long term gasoline storage such as it going bad, spilling, or taking up room in their garden shed or garage.

It would provide a financial buffer as well. When the price is low and you have the money you could build up a year supply like an emergency reserve. If you needed the money you could sell some of it off.

Looking at being able to build up an on demand, online stockpile of gasoline as a tangible asset? Genius. 

Hear that Chevron? Get on it!... Otherwise I’ll spin up another company and do it myself. ;)