The fuel landscape in 2025 is becoming more diverse, spurred by consumer preferences, economics and a shifting regulatory environment.
Traditional gasoline is often accompanied at the pump by diesel or higher ethanol-blended fuels. More convenience stores are adding electric vehicle (EV) chargers to the forecourt. And still, hydrogen is on the industry’s radar, although it represents a low percentage of transportation energy today.
As c-stores look to navigate the future of fuel, they must pay attention to both regional and national trends.
Assessing EVs
The last few years have seen a push for EV adoption nationwide, with the Biden administration setting a goal to make half of all new vehicles sold zero emission by 2030. California, too, proposed all new passenger cars, trucks and SUVs sold in the state be zero emission by 2035.
The Transportation Energy Institute (TEI) forecast various scenarios for EV sales percentage based on the U.S. long-term EV goal. If decarbonization challenges occur, 30% of light-duty vehicle sales will be EVs in 2030. Based on the annual energy outlook in 2023 by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), however, TEI assumes only 7% of light-duty vehicles sold will be EVs in 2030.
Of course, the beginning of a new administration in the White House may influence EV goals on a national level, and c-store retailers are continually watching for new legislation as they consider their own EV plans.
“I would suspect things will change, just given the attention that President-elect (Donald) Trump has given to fuel and traditional combustible ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles versus EV vehicles,” said Ed Collupy, president of Collupy System Solutions LLC. “I can’t say what will happen, but I suspect we’ll see change in policy to some degree that might reduce the advancement of EV at any considerable pace.”
Still, he recommended c-store retailers research funding opportunities, such as the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, and learn about the technology and its impact on a store’s operations as well as the opportunities that can be created for the EV customer.
At Parker’s Kitchen, EV charging is offered at sites situated along interstates such as I-95 and I-16 that are designed to achieve a minimal threshold of demand. “The vast majority of Parker’s Kitchen sites do not meet this threshold, but we have the ability to add EV charging capabilities if and when consumer demand increases,” said Ricky John, VP of fuel, Parker’s Kitchen.
Headquartered in Savannah, Ga., Parker’s Kitchen operates 96 locations in Georgia and South Carolina. Currently, it has Tesla EV superchargers at five stores in Georgia.
Going forward, Parker’s has limited EV infrastructure plans, but should the market share for alternative fuel options increase in its corporate footprint, it will reevaluate its EV approach to meet consumer demands.
EV charging is also available at a handful of Spinx locations.
“EV has long been contested as either intrusive or accretive to the traditional fuel offerings,” said Shaun Bolger, director of fuel merchandising at Spinx. “That said, Spinx has adopted a low-risk, turnkey approach in which the vendor owns and operates equipment while we learn our way into best practices and benefit from customer conversion.”
Spinx, another South Carolina operator, has 92 stores chiefly in the Palmetto State with a few in North Carolina.
Bolger acknowledged infrastructure improvements he has seen, even while EV charging often occurs at home.
“Most of the U.S. now lives within a few miles of a charger; the number of chargers has grown exponentially; and charging times have come down to around 15-20 minutes. Nonetheless, while barriers to entry have improved, the cost of adoption is still high. Without financial assistance, many retailers are unwilling to take the risk of outright ownership and operation of EV charging,” he continued.
At one of its new large-format sites in Greenwood, S.C., Spinx is partnering with Tesla to complete a second eight-stall supercharger hub with a solar canopy. The chain plans to take future opportunities on a case-by-case basis.
With multiple potential avenues available for installing EV chargers, c-store retailers need to consider how to navigate any partnerships.
“Whoever a retailer forms their relationship with for EV charging, whether they buy it outright, whether they have some kind of lease arrangement, whether they have a hybrid thing … they really need to be thinking about who owns the data,” said Collupy.
With access to the data that an EV charger can provide, c-store operators can more accurately assess how to better serve their EV customers.
Poised for Biofuels
EVs aren’t the only alternative fuel option available to consumers.
Spinx offers customers standard unleaded, mid-grade and premium gasoline, as well as diesel at all locations. At select sites, it caters to those looking for kerosene, E85, ethanol-free gas, diesel exhaust fluid and E15.
The Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center defines E85 (flex fuel) as ethanol-gasoline blends with 51-83% ethanol. E15, conversely, is gasoline blended with 10.5-15% ethanol.
“The geographic footprint of Spinx is primarily South Carolina, and while it’s one of the fastest growing states, adoption of ethanol is conversely low relative to other areas of the country,” said Bolger. “Nonetheless, Spinx continually innovates and should tipping points emerge (legislative changes, demand, grant awards, etc.), we’re poised to capitalize.”
As of early 2024, South Carolina accounted for 2% of U.S. ethanol consumption, according to the EIA.
“Legislation certainly has an impact, particularly on the future of E15 and how we decide to pursue the product. It could be in the form of incentives to substitute current offerings such as unleaded 87 or midgrade with E15, the HBIIP (Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program) grant and how lucrative or feasible funds are to obtain, or perhaps in the form of inducements to the consumer that increases demand for the product. All these examples could impact how Spinx goes to market with E15 and how it would fit in with our portfolio,” Bolger explained.
Parker’s Kitchen has also noticed static demand for alternative fuels in its area.
Like Spinx, Parker’s offers diesel at all stores, in addition to E10 and ethanol-free gasoline.
While the demand for ethanol and other alternative fuels might not be felt as keenly in South Carolina, California on the other hand, champions a Low Carbon Fuel Standard. As a result, most of the renewable diesel produced in the U.S. is sold in California, according to TEI, and in 2022, it was the largest source of alternative fuel sold in the state, followed by ethanol.
At press time, the U.S. still maintained a long-term goal to reach net zero for greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Time will tell how market conditions, new policies and other factors might affect this.
Prediction analysis by TEI shows transportation energy derived from oil will decrease until no longer in use in 2050 in a scenario in which there are few technological and political hurdles to attempts at lessening greenhouse gas emissions, based on the U.S. decarbonization strategy. This same scenario shows electricity contributing the most to transportation energy use, followed by biofuel and hydrogen.
In a different scenario, projected demand for biofuel is approximately 36 billion gallons. Demand for oil is still present in 2050, slightly more than electricity. TEI noted net zero in 2050 is not forecast in this scenario, in which decarbonization challenges, such as technical and infrastructure requirements for EV limiting its progress, emerge in the transport sector.
At the Pump
The national average cost of a gallon of gas has been on a decline since the summer, according to AAA, closing in on under $3, which hasn’t been seen since 2021, as of Dec. 9, 2024. Recently, AAA began calculating the EV average price per kilowatt hour for all commercial/public charging, as well. The national average as of Dec. 9 was 35 cents. Hawaii has the highest cost of charging at press time with 108 chargers in the state. It’s California, however, that has the most publicly available EV chargers (11,366), followed by New York (6,583) and Massachusetts (2,932). Wyoming amassed the fewest number of chargers with 16.
For individual c-stores, technology advancements are helping operators adjust fuel prices to account for market conditions and crude oil prices.
“The analytics and data around fuel pricing continue to improve,” said Bolger. “While some software vendors have been incorporating features such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and geolocational data to help make better-informed pricing decisions, simply having timely and accurate pricing data will always be fundamental to this line of business and a key tenant for Spinx.”
Bolger anticipates fuel pricing change will come as continued competitive intrusion and a greater reliance on loyalty.
Collupy advocates for c-stores to keep up to date with the technology that can help them make these pricing decisions.
“If you’re not active in some fuel pricing system, your competitors are or will be, and you need to stay on top of that,” he said.
Flexibility, it seems, is a key attribute to remain successful at the pump; being open to new technologies, keeping stores ready for possible advancements and new fuel offerings, and always researching legislation and market dynamics will keep a c-store competitive.
