Z Energy says its venture Sharetank is the first of its kind for the fuel industry. Photo / Supplied
Z Energy says its venture Sharetank is the first of its kind for the fuel industry. Photo / Supplied
Fuel distributor and retailer Z Energy has applied to patent its "virtual fuel tank" idea in the hopes that it can license it out to other fuel companies in coming years.
The NZX-listed company yesterday begun trialling its newest venture Sharetank, dubbed "virtual fuel tank", through the Z app that enables motorists to buy fuel at current market rates, and fill up and use at a later date.
Sharetank allows motorists to find and pre-purchase fuel at the best price from Z gas stations within a 30km radius of their location - away from the pump.
Up to 1000 litres of fuel can be bought at one time, and the virtual fuel can be stored and accessed when needed, and shared with up to five family members or members of an organisation.
Scott Bishop, chief innovation officer at Z Energy, said the idea for the virtual feature was founded with the knowledge that motorists were "willing to drive across town to save a few dollars".
"If you're buying hundreds of litres - that might be multiple fills - [we thought] 'wouldn't that be great to share with friends and family. This is a neat scenario that we underestimated when we first originally thought about the product," Bishop told the Herald.
The product, which had been developed over the past 12 months, will be trialled with all Z sites for an undecided period of time. The company would seek feedback on Sharetank to "shape the future of the product".
Bishop said Sharetank was designed to give motorists "control over the price they pay" for fuel, and reflected changing consumption habits and expectations.
"There are changing expectations with customers; one of those is fair value, and we believe Sharetank provides customers with fair value.
"What we hear from customers is frustration, where they are stuck having to pay the price because they only have one tank, and if their tank is full and there's a low price they don't get to take advantage of that. Sharetank allows you to be able to lock in a price and have certainty over as many tanks of gas as they like."
Bishop would not say whether he thought New Zealanders paid too much for fuel at the pump or if the feature would ramp up competition among Z stations.
Earlier in the year, Z Energy rolled out its "Fastlane" automatic car-scanning payment technology to 40 of its stations in Auckland and the North Island, another of its innovation programmes.
Scott Bishop, chief innovation officer at Z Energy. Photo / Supplied
Bishop said another area of focus for innovation at Z Energy was exploring how it could reward repeat customers outside the traditional loyalty programme model.
He said Sharetank inverted loyalty programmes often seen in other markets, where discounts and savings were typically offered to new customers.
"This a new product that we are introducing to Z and the industry.
"We believe there is intellectual property in this so we have applied for patent protection both in the United States and New Zealand because we believe it is a competitive differentiator.
"If that patent gets granted in the United States we're then able to license that patent to other companies and generate incremental revenue for Z."
