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Gensler, BMW Designworks Reimagine Fuel Stations For The EV Age



While overall vehicle sales declined last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic battery electric vehicles (BEVs) swam against the current, capturing record market share and on track to continue to do so. According to IHS Markit, BEVs accounted for 1.8% of the U.S. Market in 2020 and accounted for 2.5% of vehicle registrations in December, also a record. It's a trend the market research company predicts is on a trajectory to reach 3.5% U.S. Market share this year and 10% by 2025.

That's a big chunk of vehicles on the road that aren't powered by gasoline or diesel, and growing. So what happens to the 180,000 filling stations that depend on motorists to pop in, fill up, maybe grab a snack or a drink then go on their way? A new study by architectural firm Gensler and the BMW Designworks, the German automaker's design innovation studio, imagines they'll eventually give way to radically different facilities that take into account the longer time it takes to recharge a vehicle's battery as well as the pandemic-fueled trend of more people working away from an office.

“We think of the car as a space where you’re going to spend more time in or could do other things in now and start to think about what else can you do in the car and start to integrate it and start to think the gas station doesn't have to be this pass-through experience, it can be an integrated experience,” said Neil Brooker, Global Director of Strategic Partnering and Operations at BMW Designworks in an interview.

The whole idea of an electric car containing the technologies that make it possible to conduct more business and personal tasks the picture of the service station of the future starts to coalesce into more of a multi-function lifestyle facility where you pause for longer periods, rather than pass through.

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