This is my submission for GOOD’s Gas Station of the Future competition. You can read about my submission on the GOOD website. GOOD is currently waiting for votes on submissions, so I’d really appreciate your vote. If you have a moment, please vote for me, Matt McInerney, on the twtpoll. If you’d like to see a hi-res version of my entry, click here. Here’s my description:
What if the gas station of the future is no gas station at all? In my vision, as electric cars become more popular because fossil fuels have become more expensive, we’ll need less places to pump and more places to plug in. While many people will just plug in their cars at home, there will certainly be those of us who need to plug in while we’re at work or running errands. Instead of stopping to charge the car on our way to these activities, what if we could just plug in where we park? And instead of designing a new “gas pump,” perhaps we could make use of a payment system we’re already accustomed to: parking meters. By adding a touchscreen interface that allows the user to pay for both parking and charge time simultaneously, rarely would anyone ever have to rely on stopping at a station solely dedicated to providing fuel for vehicles.
