No Mushroom Cloud = Successful Fill

The Meijer gas station in Ypsilanti, Michigan was like any other, except for having an odd-looking pump between two regular-looking ones way in the back row. The joint was hoppin' the afternoon when your author stopped in, people seemingly unable to get enough of the $3.89 regular posted on the sign out front. With a car or truck saddled up to nearly every other pump, the odd-looking one in back dedicated to natural gas appeared lonely. That's apparently not unusual; the station manager said only about eight-10 vehicles visit it a day, most from local municipalities or utility companies.

Only eight or 10 vehicles a day visit the Meijer station's lone natural gas pump.

When I opened the car's fuel door, I half expected to see all sorts of threatening warnings with bright red exclamation marks and cryptic icons. But the only one there simply warned that a "fast fill" (whatever that is) should not be attempted in temperatures of less than -4 degrees Fahrenheit. Since this was mid-August, I didn't feel compelled to find out exactly what constituted a "fast fill."

A reassuring ambulance appeared, though only for a diesel fix. EMTs kept a respectful distance.

The components may look different, but once it's mastered, the filling procedure isn't much more difficult or time-consuming than for a conventional car.

At the business end of the filler hose was a connector with what looked like a one-eared faucet handle at its end. Illustrations on the pump showed how to slip the connector over the nozzle, then rotate the faucet handle to seal the connector to the nozzle. Even after carefully reading the directions (three times) and checking the connection (four times), knowing that 3,600 psi worth of explosive gas was about to be let loose forced me to cringe as I hit the "Start" button.

Bold pump warnings relay the importance of the three little words you don't want to hear: Ka. Blew. Ee.

I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting (other than a hair-singeing fireball), but the whole filling procedure was a bit anticlimactic. There was a faint "whooshing" sound as the gas flowed through the hose, and it clicked off a couple of times and then back on again before stopping for good--which meant the tank was full. It didn't take any longer than filling a half-full tank with gasoline. Then it was just a matter of releasing the handle, returning the hose to its saddle ... and wiping my brow with a sigh of relief.