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Re:First town in America to ban new gas stations by londons_explore on Wednesday August 18, 2021 @10:24AM (#28221343)
Who would invest in a new gas station today?

You're going to spend $1M+ on all the buildings, pumps, tanks, etc. And the population of gas cars in the road is slowly decreasing today, and expected to rapidly decrease in the future. Will you really get a good return in your investment when profits on selling gas are very slim, and the risks of EPA regulations giving you huge fines for gas leaks and soil decontamination costs are so large.

Re:First town in America to ban new gas stations by CivBase on Wednesday August 18, 2021 @10:41AM (#28221603)
It will be several decades before the vast majority of vehicles on the road are EVs. Even if all new vehicles sold were EVs starting tomorrow, the cars currently out there would account for the majority of road vehicles for at least another decade-and-a-half. There's plenty of time to recoup investment on a gas station.

Besides, most money for a "gas station" is made from the convenience store. Like you said, gas profits are slim. They make some money, but their primary purpose is to drive customers to the convenience store. When the tides do change, they'll probably just gradually swap out pumps for chargers and continue business as usual.

Re:First town in America to ban new gas stations by londons_explore on Wednesday August 18, 2021 @04:32PM (#28226719)
But if there are already enough gas stations to service all gas cars, then building another when the number of gas cars isn't going up makes little business sense.

I'd understand it in a town with regular queues at gas stations. But there aren't many of those left today.

Re:First town in America to ban new gas stations by CivBase on Thursday August 19, 2021 @09:30AM (#28233580)
It's not about there being "enough" gas stations. It's about location. If people are willing to go to a new gas station because it's in a more optimal location for them, then there's a market for it. People often prefer one station over another just to avoid left turns.

There may also be other factors at play with the convenience store. Is there a store like that within walking distance? That's another market opportunity. In my home state there is a gas station chain who is very popular for their pizza. They actually opened another station in my home town specifically to keep up with demand for the pizza.