Filling station
Besides gasoline pumps, one other significant device which is also found in filling stations and can refuel certain (compressed-air) vehicles is an air compressor, although generally these are just used to inflate car tires.
A significant boost in retail network development occurred with the mass launch of the car "Zhiguli" at the Volga Automobile Plant, which was built in Tolyatti in 1970.
The first "drive-in" filling station, Gulf Refining Company, opened to the motoring public in Pittsburgh on December 1, 1913, at Baum Boulevard and St Clair's Street.
[9] The majority of filling stations are built in a similar manner, with most of the fueling installation underground, pump machines in the forecourt and a point of service inside a building.
The construction model for underground modular filling station makes the installation time shorter, designing easier and manufacturing less expensive.
[16] High levels of benzene have been detected near stations across urban, suburban, and rural environments, though the causes (such as road traffic or congestion) can vary by location.
They received national attention in 1983 after an episode of 60 Minutes documented significant drinking water contamination from a Mobil station in Canob Park in Richmond, Rhode Island.
[25] Because of the relatively small size of former stations (compared to larger brownfields), the cost-per-acre to rehabilitate the land is higher; the total cost in the United States is not known but is in the billions of dollars.
Non-international premium brands include Petrobras, Petro-Canada (owned by Suncor Energy Canada), QuikTrip, Hess, Sinclair, and Pemex.
Premium stations tend to be highly visible from highway and freeway exits, utilizing tall signs to display their brand logos.
In Indonesia, the dominant player by number of stations is the government-owned Pertamina, although other companies such as TotalEnergies and Shell are increasingly found in big cities such as the capital Jakarta or Surabaya.
In Mexico, the historical monopoly filling station operator, and still the largest, is Pemex, but ever since Mexico's energy laws were gradually liberalized starting from 2013, foreign brands such as Shell, BP, Mobil and Chevron, as well as the country's largest convenience store chain Oxxo, have also started operating filling stations.
In Poland, the three largest operators are the partially state-owned PKN Orlen (including acquisitions Grupa Lotos and PGNiG), followed by Shell and BP.
In New Zealand, BP has an app for smartphones that detects a user's location, then allows one to select the type of fuel, which pump, and how much to spend.
Filling stations in South Korea offer a variety of services, such as providing bottled water or tissues, and cleaning free of charge.
New Jersey prohibited self-service in 1949, with the passage of "Retail Gasoline Dispensing Safety Act," after lobbying by service station owners.
[45] Oregon legislators passed a bill that was signed into law by the Governor in May 2017 to allow self-service for counties with a total population of 40,000 or less beginning in January 2018.
[citation needed] The town of Huntington, New York has prohibited self-service stations since the early 1970s firstly to prevent theft and later due to safety concerns.
Many filling stations have integrated convenience stores which sell food, beverages, and often cigarettes, lottery tickets, motor oil, and auto parts.
Even with oil market fluctuations, prices for gasoline in the United States are among the lowest in the industrialized world; this is principally due to lower taxes.
Due to heavy fluctuations in price in the United States, some stations offer their customers the option to buy and store gasoline for future uses, such as the service provided by First Fuel Bank.
[64] In other energy-importing countries such as Japan, gasoline and petroleum product prices are higher than in the United States because of fuel transportation costs and taxes.
On the other hand, some of the major oil-producing countries such as the Gulf states, Iran, Iraq, and Venezuela provide subsidized fuel at well-below world market prices.
In Canada, the province of Ontario has stops along two of its 400-series highways, the 401 and the 400, traditionally referred to as "Service Centres", but recently renamed "ONroute" as part of a full rebuild of the sites.
At high altitudes in the Mountain States and the Black Hills of South Dakota, regular unleaded can be as low as 85 octane; this practice has become increasingly controversial, since it was instituted when most cars had carburetors instead of the fuel injection and electronic engine controls standard in recent decades.
The tank filler opening has a corresponding diameter; this prevents inadvertently using leaded fuel in an engine not designed for it, which can damage a catalytic converter.
However even a liter of gasoline added to the tank of a modern diesel car can cause irreversible damage to the injection pump and other components through a lack of lubrication.
[74] Ordinarily, vapor concentrations in the area of this filling operation are below the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the product being dispensed, so the static discharge causes no problem.
[75] Although urban legends persist that using a mobile phone while pumping gasoline can cause sparks or explosion, this has not been duplicated under any controlled condition.
Above this height, where most fuel filler necks are located, there is no expectation of an explosive concentration of gasoline vapor in normal operating conditions.
