Here, the prototypical 20th century gas station has been redesigned to a new fueling station experience for the user. Propel is an environmental startup company creating a new green biofueling retail presence. The station is designed to thwart the prodigious excesses of Big Oil, and yet is bound by the petroleum industry to work within existing fueling codes and regulations. The Propel station highlights its own sustainable features, and the sustainable brand of its owners and customers through design, color, water, plants and light to creating an emotional experience uniquely different than the typical fueling experience.

Both the process of using the station, as well as the station design represent values and technical advancements in this new fueling model. Further, as Propel’s business model calls for hundreds of stations to be built in varied climatic regions, the prototype was designed with various sustainable elements to be interchanged depending on unique site characteristics. This ‘kit-of-parts’ model builds on the existing production models of the petroleum industry, augmenting standard details of canopy with custom ones, such as rainwater louvers, or solar panels.

Six have been built in the Northwest and six in California. The first five were prototypes leading to STATION 2.0 built in South Lake Union, Seattle. Construction cost per station is $15,000-$125,000, depending on site configuration. Included are the earlier five stations as information only to explain the scope of the project. Propel’s business plan calls for forty stations to be built during 2009-10 along the west coast.

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