By Vicki Vaughan
vvaughan@express-news.net

Published 05:35 p.m., Thursday, April 28, 2011
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Recent Headlines .BP, Valero refineries continue to limit work after power troublesValero declares a 5-cent dividendCrocs store opens at Ingram Park MallCullen/Frost ups dividendKoontz McCombs, RVK get KCI projectPage 1 of 1
Valero Energy Corp. is planning for the gas station of the future — or perhaps the term should be “fuel station” of the future.

As Valero builds new stores, it will design them to handle alternate fuels, including natural gas as well as E85, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gas that it has already added at a few locations.

“In certain markets they're already consuming natural gas in vehicles,” CEO Bill Klesse said, and the San Antonio-based company will add natural gas pumps in Texas if there is market demand.

Valero already has some stores capable of dispensing natural gas in Colorado. The San Antonio-based refiner and fuels marketer will do the same in Texas “if there is market demand,” he said.

The first Texas Valero station with natural gas dispensers will be built at Interstate 10 and UTSA Boulevard near the company's headquarters, Klesse said at the company's annual shareholders' meeting Thursday.

Also, where a Valero station has enough land, it may add electric charging stations “to help people get home.”

But Valero's chief seemed less enthusiastic about adding charging stations, saying electric power is “problematic.”

The company now sells E85 at five stores in Texas: two in San Antonio, two in Dallas and one in El Paso. The fuel is soon to be added at a Valero store near Lewisville Lake in North Texas.

It saves money to plumb Valero stores for alternative fuels as they're being built rather than modifying stores. To add E85 pump to an existing store costs $100,000, Klesse said.

At present, unleaded gasoline sold by retailers, including Valero, includes 10 percent ethanol.

Valero's marketing network includes 5,800 retail and branded wholesale outlets in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

A number of national companies, including Verizon, AT&T Corp. and UPS, have fleets that run on natural gas, said Dan Whitten, a spokesman for America's Natural Gas Alliance, a trade group, in Washington.

“There will be a stronger push for passenger vehicles,” he said. “Ultimately there will be demand from the public as it relates to the price of gasoline and the availability of home-grown natural gas at a cost substantially lower than what you would pay for gasoline.”

Russel Smith, executive director of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association, said E85 “is an excellent fuel for passenger cars and pick-ups.”

In 2008 most major manufacturers pledged to manufacture 50 percent of their entire vehicle line as flexible-fuel vehicles in model year 2012, he said. Those are vehicles that can take regular unleaded gas or E85


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