I had just pulled up to one of two pumps at the end of the station that offer both gasoline and diesel. These pumps have two separate nozzles, one at either end, and two banks of buttons to select either one of three grades of gas (standard, plus, or premium) or diesel. The diesel pump is clearly marked with a green handle, and the overall picture looks a lot like the one at right (only with an annoying television that endlessly blares the ever-tantalizing GasStationTV as you fill your tank).As I watched the numbers on the pump tick upward at the rate of $4.96/gallon, a middle-aged woman in an old Subaru (a typical New England sight) pulled up to the opposite face of the pump I was using. Not thirty seconds later, she made her way around the pump to ask an innocent question:
Excuse me, can I ask you a question? Which one is gas, and which one is diesel? I don't want diesel.
As I explained to her that diesel was the one with the green label and handle, and that all she needed to do was use the other one, it occurred to me that questions such as hers are only going to become more common.
Imagine that it is the year 2020, you're on an extended road trip to see your parents, and you've just pulled off the interstate into a British HesxonGulfbil station to refuel your 2011 Toyota Camry (which is one of a shrinking population of non-hybrid Toyotas still in use). What would your reaction be if the pump console looked something like this?
Yep, that's what's probably gonna happen if (as it currently appears) there's no one-size-fits-all solution to our automotive energy needs. In this case, the only solution to the usability problem is for Apple to invent the iPump, whose extremely sexy touchscreen interface with integrated passive RFID payment capabilities will make sorting through this mess both easy and fun:
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