Booster‘s tiny purple tankers have been cruising parking lots in Dallas-Fort Worth and the San Francisco area for 18 months now, and it’s ready to let the world in on its not-so-secret service. Companies can contract with Booster to have its employees’ gas tanks filled during the workday.
When you arrive at work and pull into a parking space, if your employer is savvy enough to offer this perk, you just mark your location using the Booster app and leave the gas door open. (You have to trust your prank-prone coworkers to not dump sugar and the like in your tank.) The car stays locked; Booster has no need for anything inside as long as the fuel door is popped before you leave the car. The purple tanker will pull up during a set window of time, your tank will be filled, and Booster will send you a receipt.
The user does pay for the fuel via a stored credit card. Booster charges a “competitive price” for gas, which fluctuates depending on day and location. It offers both regular and premium gasoline right now and hopes to offer diesel in the future.
In the year and a half since the service began operating, it’s pumped 3 million gallons of gasoline into user’s vehicles without incident. According to the company’s press release, this service has reduced the collective carbon footprint of its users by 162 tons, since they don’t have to drive to a gas station just to get more gas. It’s not as emissions-free as an EV, but it’s an improvement.
The service drivers have hazardous materials training and the pumps have Weights and Measures approval, just like station pumps do, so if they pump a gallon, it really is a gallon. The company has raised $12 million in venture capital from Maveron and Madrona Venture Group.