Norway is simulating the farewell to old fossil fuel service stations. For now it is only a test, but the goodbye to petrol and diesel is drawing closer.
The transition phase that the automotive world is preparing to face will have consequences for the current network of service stations. This is an issue that obviously involves the major oil companies, but that affects above all small sector entrepreneurs, for whom the petrol pump could one day represent a limitation rather than a resource. Already now, if Europe is taken as the benchmark, the number of operational service stations is in sharp decline, even though the share of electric vehicles is still far from dominant. The European picture would appear to be clear, despite the perception in our country being decidedly different.
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As the Financial Times recently reported, Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that 57 per cent of cars sold globally in 2040 will be electric; Norway reached this milestone last year. Needless to say, the service station network will have no choice but to adapt. The issue is not simply providing customers with a choice that is not limited to fossil fuels; the aim is to make the refuelling point experience an alternative to the one we are usually accustomed to. This is an eventuality that Canadian company Couche-Tard, a multinational convenience store operator, is trying to find an answer to. Especially in light of a potential and (almost) exclusively electric-powered mobility. The Canadian company, a multinational with around 15,000 points of sale, has chosen Norway as a "laboratory" to try to imagine a future without petrol stations. To this end, Couche-Tard is replacing fuel pumps with charging points at some of its European Circle K service stations; the geographical area chosen for the test is no coincidence, given that in Bergen, Norway's second city, one in five cars is electric.
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But the evolution under way goes beyond Norway's borders. A study published in July 2019 by the Boston Consulting Group concluded that "up to 80% of the currently existing fuel retail network may not be profitable in around 15 years." And a quarter of service stations worldwide risks closure by 2035. The business model must change, to offer innovative and even entirely new services. All while confronting a fundamental premise: with the electric car, people will choose (space permitting) to charge their vehicle at home, recharging probably only on motorways. While waiting for charging times to shorten, the service station will have to adapt to the needs of those who will have more time to spend inside the new "energy stations". A range of opportunities that have yet to find any tangible expression, and to which Couche-Tard is attempting to provide a solution.