Chevron rolls out first gas pumps with Apple Pay support
More than six months after promising to support Apple Pay touchless payments at gas pumps, Chevron rolled out the service at a station across the street from its headquarters in San Ramon, Calif.
Chevron took to Twitter to announce NFC payment support -- including Apple Pay -- at dispensers installed at a gas station on San Ramon Valley Blvd., meaning nearby iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch owners can pay at the pump without reaching for their wallet. More locations will follow suit, but Chevron did not offer a rollout timeline. The company's tweet did say, "Cupertino coming soon!" in reference to Apple's nearby campus.
Chevron first revealed plans to incorporate Apple Pay payment technology into gas pumps in December. At the time, Chevron said it was working directly with Apple on the project and hoped to bring the first Apple Pay-compatible dispensers online in early 2015.
According to Apple's list of Apple Pay retail partners, Chevron is the only gas and oil company to pledge support for the payments platform in the U.S. The company was one of the first Apple Pay adopters and rolled out support at point of sale terminals in its convenience stores and Texaco Extra Mile locations when the payments service launched last October.
For the UK, where Apple Pay just debuted on Tuesday, Apple lined up a launch partnership with petroleum giant BP, though it is not clear if customers can pay at the pump. Like the U.S., it seems that only one gas company will be offering initial support for Apple's contactless payment system in the region.
Chevron took to Twitter to announce NFC payment support -- including Apple Pay -- at dispensers installed at a gas station on San Ramon Valley Blvd., meaning nearby iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch owners can pay at the pump without reaching for their wallet. More locations will follow suit, but Chevron did not offer a rollout timeline. The company's tweet did say, "Cupertino coming soon!" in reference to Apple's nearby campus.
Chevron first revealed plans to incorporate Apple Pay payment technology into gas pumps in December. At the time, Chevron said it was working directly with Apple on the project and hoped to bring the first Apple Pay-compatible dispensers online in early 2015.
According to Apple's list of Apple Pay retail partners, Chevron is the only gas and oil company to pledge support for the payments platform in the U.S. The company was one of the first Apple Pay adopters and rolled out support at point of sale terminals in its convenience stores and Texaco Extra Mile locations when the payments service launched last October.
For the UK, where Apple Pay just debuted on Tuesday, Apple lined up a launch partnership with petroleum giant BP, though it is not clear if customers can pay at the pump. Like the U.S., it seems that only one gas company will be offering initial support for Apple's contactless payment system in the region.
Comments
I've noticed that the local gasoline stations charge ten cents a gallon more to accept credit cards, vs. debit cards. Meanwhile, CostCo finds a way to charge about a dollar less per gallon. It's great that Apple Pay is coming to some pumps, but it's a slowly evolving story with some pretty bad actors.
In the late nineties I filled up at a Chevron. my car ran so badly I've never been to a Chevron since.
I rarely use Chevron, but you just had "bad luck". ALL top-tier gasolines are produced at the same, regional refineries. Your local Chevron gasoline is made in the same refinery using the same methods as other brands. The only difference is in the additive package, such as detergents, but this accounts for only a tiny fraction of the quantity. These additives also have minimum and maximum limits.
You filled up at "A" single, individual Chevron 20 years ago at who-knows-where, and concluded that all Chevrons are like that?
I've used Chevron countless times in the late 90's in all my vehicles, and never a problem.
Awesome. Yeah, that's what happened. So I feel like hating Chevron and their stupid "techron" additive to make their shitty gas less worse. I also felt like sayng "less worse" even though it doesn't exactly make sense.
Gas pump card skimming is a big problem. Gas stations need to do more to protect customers' data than just putting security tape over their card readers. Frankly, I don't think they care, because they aren't required by law to notify customers who may have had their credit card data stolen this way. If it doesn't cost them any business, they just look the other way.
Every major gas company has a similar additive in their fuel these days. You had one bad experience. Time to move on.
The first person responsible for your security is you, Newton. Expecting others to do it for you is a setup for disappointment and disaster. If you're putting your card into any unmanned automated card reader, always give the slot a good hard wiggle to make sure it's legit and not a card skimming fake cover. This simple test which I perform every time saved me from getting skimmed at a gas station in Fort Nelson, Canada on a recent road trip. The skimmer snapped off in my hand, held over the real reader slot by four pieces of double sided 3M tape.
I thought we weren't supposed to use phones near the pump because they might cause an explosion...
exactly what I was thinking, there are signs on every petrol station in the UK telling you not only to not use the phone but you must "switch it off"!
I thought we weren't supposed to use phones near the pump because they might cause an explosion...
It doesn't mention it in this article, but you need to bring the phone to the cashier -- it can't be used at the pump.
Which really isn't any more convenient...
I thought we weren't supposed to use phones near the pump because they might cause an explosion...
I believe this concern is from the past when cell phones had external antennas (like the whip antennas on walkie-talkies that the police carry around today). When the antenna is external, the user can physically damage it by breaking it off or fraying the antenna wires inside (by bending it too much or playing with it or chewing on it - yes, this was common). This can cause a spark gap condition, which, in the presence of volatile fumes, can ignite them.
I believe that all cell phone antennas today are internal or integral to the case frame, such as what Apple debuted in the iPhone4, so the user cannot damage it nearly as easily. The spark gap condition can still occur, but the phone would have to be dropped very hard to create the right condition. And if that happened, the phone would probably not work anyway.
Apple should be getting more visible negotiation wins in retail segments like these. It will drive faster consumer adoption. The retail rollout of ApplePay still leaves something to be desired.
Mhhh. Thanks for the advice.
exactly what I was thinking, there are signs on every petrol station in the UK telling you not only to not use the phone but you must "switch it off"!
That's an old myth. No fires or explosions have been attributed to cell phones. Static electricity is a real danger and has been shown to be the root cause of the fires thought to be caused by cell phones.
It doesn't mention it in this article, but you need to bring the phone to the cashier -- it can't be used at the pump.
Which really isn't any more convenient...
That's not true. There will be pay stations at the pumps.