With the rise of the electric car and, hopefully soon enough, the self-driving vehicle, it appears to me the days of the gas station are numbered.

I’m not the only one who thinks that way.  Here’s an article by Daniel Gross and found on Slate magazine:

Why America’s gas stations are running out of time

Mr. Gross offers statistics showing there has been a noticeable decline in number of gas stations in the United states and enumerates reasons why this may be a permanent trend.

The rise of electric cars, of course, is but one of the bigger reasons.  With each sale Tesla or GM or BMW etc. have with their electric vehicles, it means there is one less vehicle on the road that requires stopping at a gas station to refuel.

But Gas Stations, IMHO, have even more to fear from the self-driving cars.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: When the day comes -and it will come- when self-driving cars are fully allowed on the roads of America, there will be a HUGE shift in our transportation perspective.

I believe at that time there will be a company -perhaps more than one- that offer rides by their army of self-driving vehicles.  You will pull out your smartphone, order a car, and it will come pick you up and take you to your destination.  From there, the self-driving vehicle will find its next passenger and so on through the day.

When the vehicle is low on fuel -whether it be an electric charge or gasoline- the vehicle will return to its home base where it will be refueled (or have its batteries swapped) and be off again.  There will be no need for this fleet of vehicles to use a gas station.

So, what will become of gas stations?  Will they simply convert into snack shops a la 7-11 and offer foods?  Or will many of them simply fade away and will one day we suddenly find there are no more gas stations at all?

We’ll see.