Acme Fuel customers are nothing if not loyal. For the past few months as the company has been upgrading its fueling station in downtown Olympia, both commercial and residential clients have been driving to the Fast Fuel Lilly Road station to get their gas. “We appreciate their loyalty and patience,” says General Manager Todd Deck.
Now that patience is about to pay off. This fall the new station will be up and running, with more fuel options than ever. The station will include an extra island and three grades of both E10 gasoline and ethanol-free gasoline, as well as Off Road diesel and Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF).
“We had E10 regular, but now we’ll have E10 mid-grade and E10 premium as well,” says Deck. “Before we only had unleaded and premium but now we’ll have mid-grade ethanol-free gas.”
Acme Fuel is one of the only companies in the area to offer ethanol-free gas, which is better for everything from boats and landscaping equipment to vintage cars. “Newer cars can run fine on E10,” says Deck. “But for motorcycles and older cars, you need something that doesn’t gum up the carburetor, especially for engines you’re not using every day. It can cause problems.”
Demand for ethanol-free gas is constant, but tends to peak in the summer months. “You have lawns that need to be mowed and it’s also boating season,” says Deck. “We definitely see more sales of it in the summer.”
Off-road diesel is intended for use in vehicles like tractors, heavy construction equipment, and generators. Unlike clear diesel, which is road vehicle grade fuel available at regular gas stations, off-road diesel contains a red dye and cannot be used in on road vehicles.
For diesel engines, the DEF will help to reduce their carbon footprint. “They come with an extra holding tank,” explains Deck. “The DEF helps to clean the exhaust.” Because it can corrode some metals, the solution has to be held in a separate holding facility onboard the truck and injected into the exhaust stream via a metering system.
Acme’s customer base is split roughly 50/50 between commercial and residential clients, Deck believes. “We see a lot of construction and landscaping companies, fireplace shops, and anyone that has a truck fleet of any sort, whether it’s one vehicle or fifty vehicles. We can help them by keeping track of the volume of fuel by truck, figuring out their mileage, tracking how often each vehicle is getting fuel and seeing which driver was involved. It’s a great tool for business.”
For the past several months, such clients have been visiting the Acme Fuel station on Lilly Road, despite the distance. “We have a lot of customers who come from the west side of town and the Boston Harbor area,” says Deck. “They’ve had to go further to keep their work and personal vehicles filled up.”
As the company upgrades the station, they’ve simultaneously been recovering from the July 5, 2016 arson fire that destroyed a 100-year-old warehouse filled with propane parts and supplies as well as their back-up heating oil truck and crane truck. “Luckily it wasn’t our office,” says Deck. “We’ve been able to do business and take care of all our customers.”
Fortunately there have been no emergencies in the interim that would require the use of their large crane truck. “We’ve had to put a couple of things on the back burner,” says Deck. “Our back-up crane truck isn’t big enough to take care of a couple of jobs, but the jobs will get done.” They have a new crane truck on order, but in the meantime business has carried on more or less as usual.
“For 98% of the work we do, there has been no impact,” says Deck. “Our customers are cooperative and working with us.” For now, the lot remains empty as they focus on getting the station rebuilt.
Within the next month, crews will be installing fuel tanks and electrical lines, pouring concrete slabs for the islands and rebuilding canopies. Depending on the weather, Acme may host an open house when the station opens in mid-October. “If the weather’s not the best, we’ll hold off until spring, but people will still be able to come by and get fuel,” says Deck.
Acme Fuel anticipates a higher volume of traffic once the upgrade is complete. “It will be a nice new station, very user-friendly, with good pricing,” he says. “Hopefully more people will see that and come by. We’re looking forward to having it back open and letting our regular customers get back to their normal routines.”
For more information about Acme Fuel, visit www.acmefuel.com or call 360-943-1133.
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