How Fast Is Gas?

I gave this prompt to Claude today:

I want to estimate the total gasoline fueling capacity in the United States. The key questions are:
* How many operational gas pumps are there in the United States?
* What is the speed at which an individual pump can fuel a vehicle?
* How much non-fueling time contributes to pump occupancy, and therefore fueling speed in realistic use?
* What is the average mileage of a vehicle?
* What is the aggregate speed of all of the capacity in MPH?
Research these questions, come up with estimates, cite your sources of information, and indicate the numbers that come out of your investigation. Then calculate the total capacity in MPH.

The bottom line: This conservative estimate of practical gasoline fueling capacity in the United States is between 4.2 and 5.0 times the speed of light!

Here is Claude’s response in full.

US Gasoline Fueling Capacity Analysis #

The United States gasoline infrastructure can theoretically support approximately 3.11 billion miles of driving per hour, representing massive untapped capacity that operates at only 24% utilization due to operational inefficiencies rather than physical constraints.

Current infrastructure capacity #

Pump Infrastructure Scale Based on industry data from NACS and the American Petroleum Institute, the US operates 150,000-152,000 gas stations with an estimated 900,000 individual fuel dispensers. The convenience store segment dominates, with 121,852 locations selling fuel and accounting for 80% of gasoline sales nationwide.

Technical Performance Specifications
Modern retail gas pumps operate at 8-10 gallons per minute (GPM), with the EPA regulatory maximum set at 10 GPM for passenger vehicles. This limit stems from vapor recovery system constraints and safety considerations rather than mechanical limitations. Commercial truck dispensers can achieve 20-40+ GPM, but the vast majority of retail infrastructure serves passenger vehicles at the 10 GPM standard.

Real-world operational efficiency #

Massive Underutilization Discovered Analysis of 30,000 gas stations reveals average pump utilization of only 24%, with high-performing stations reaching just 41% during peak hours. This means pumps sit unused 59-76% of the time, creating an enormous capacity bottleneck unrelated to technical capabilities.

Transaction Time Breakdown While theoretical fuel dispensing for an average 11.7-gallon fill-up should take 1.2-1.5 minutes at optimal flow rates, total customer visits average 5-8 minutes. The effective “duty cycle” shows pumps spend less than 40% of transaction time actually dispensing fuel, with the remainder consumed by payment processing, customer positioning, and selection delays.

Vehicle fleet considerations #

Current Fleet Efficiency New vehicles sold in 2023 achieved 27.1 MPG real-world fuel economy, but the actual on-road fleet average is significantly lower due to older vehicles still in service. Conservative estimates place the true fleet average around 24 MPG when accounting for the full range of vehicles currently operating.

Efficiency Trajectory Regulatory pressure drives toward 49 MPG for new vehicles by 2026, while electric vehicle adoption reached 11.5% of production in 2023. However, continued consumer preference for SUVs and trucks (75% of new sales) partially offsets technology improvements.

Total capacity calculation #

Methodology and Results Starting with 900,000 dispensers operating at 10 GPM maximum capacity yields 9 million GPM theoretical capacity. Applying the observed 24% utilization rate reduces this to 2.16 million GPM effective capacity, equivalent to 129.6 million gallons per hour.

Converting to driving capacity using the estimated 24 MPG fleet average produces the final result: 3.11 billion miles per hour, with reasonable ranges from 2.85 to 3.37 billion MPH depending on fleet efficiency assumptions.

Capacity utilization insights #

Scale and Opportunity This infrastructure capacity could theoretically support 74.6 billion miles per day, while actual US vehicle miles traveled totals approximately 8.8 billion daily. Current operations represent only 11.8% of total infrastructure capacity, indicating enormous unused potential.

Primary Constraints The limiting factors are temporal demand clustering, geographic distribution mismatches, customer behavior patterns, and payment processing inefficiencies. During peak fueling hours (morning and evening rush periods), utilization increases to 41%, but 59% of capacity remains unused even at maximum demand.

Conclusion #

The United States possesses gasoline fueling infrastructure with extraordinary theoretical capacity - enough to support nearly three times the current national driving demand every hour. The constraint is not physical infrastructure or technical capability, but rather operational efficiency and demand timing patterns. This analysis reveals that expanding gasoline capacity through additional stations may be less critical than optimizing existing infrastructure utilization through improved payment systems, customer flow management, and operational efficiency improvements.