The "petrol" network in the early days is nicely covered in this article Motor Spirit - the Power behind early Motoring.white exec wrote: Once upon a time, there was almost nowhere where you could fill up your petrol car, and so drivers made other arrangements - hence the fuel cans carried on running boards. That shortcoming was quickly addressed, and we'll do the same again for battery recharging. Solutions will be various, including inductive recharging for buses while at bus stops and lights.
The distribution arrangement included supply of "standard" 2-Gallon Square Steel Cans to retailers in multiple units of two cans in a lightweight wooden crate, and as you quite rightly point out, motorists used to carry additional supplies of Motor spirit on the running boards of their cars. From those cumbersome arrangements, the supply of petrol and diesel across the UK has expanded to all parts (although the rural village filling station is rapidly becoming a thing of the past)....Chemists were also amongst the earliest stockists of what, at the time, was generally referred to as ‘Motor Spirit’, as were hardware stores. The more common term, ‘petrol’, was actually a registered trademark in the early days of motoring and belonged to a firm of importers, Carless, Capel & Leonard. This obliged competitor companies – notably Pratts in the UK – to adopt the perhaps somewhat quaint term of ‘Motor Spirit’ for their product.
Perhaps the current support network for electric vehicles is also at the "cumbersome" stage, but it will expand and difficulties will be overcome. Hand in hand, virtually all car manufacturers offer an electric option now, and the home charging ability is available to all those who want to take it up and quite workable for a daily commute. Certainly up here Nissan Leaf's are not an unusual site on the roads, even saw a Renault Zoe on the A19 the other day.
Regards Neil
