The City that is Culver

While I've been authorized to use the Culver City hydrogen refuel station for some time, I haven't really been to it very much even though my home is only a few miles away. I've usually stuck to the Torrance Shell station on 190th right off the 405 because it's along my daily commute to and from work.  I've used Culver City once before and that was for the initial training for that facility.

There are a few shortcomings with the station in Culver City in my humble opinion.  First, it seems like it's constantly out of service for one reason or another.  I can't rely on it, fearing that one day, I'll put up on vapors only see that it's down.  They closed it for weeks during the early summer for some updates, so I had to live without it for so long, having it there now just doesn't seem like a necessity anymore.  In addition, the station does not allow for a full fill-up, which cuts my fuel range by around 20 miles.  Now, that might not seem like much, but when your actual range on the F-Cell is looking around 170 miles on average, that's almost a 12% decrease in the total range, just by switching stations.  And seeing how I'm down in Torrance anyways, I'm not losing anything by driving down there.

The interface with the computer is also a bit more antiquated and involved at Culver City.  The transaction is more akin to an ATM withdrawal than pumping gas.  You have to wake up the screen, enter user names, passwords, pick the type of car you want to fill up, your mother's maiden name (OK, I jest about the maiden name).

Then there's the overall "atmosphere" of the station.  The Torrance facility looks no different than a normal gas station, with the exception of no quickie convenience mart (or a squeegie to wipe down the windows; hint hint).  The Culver City station is sandwiched behind a regular gas station, off a back alley facing a great retaining wall that holds up the 405 freeway.  You have to enter through a big automated security fence, which i'm not quite sure if it's designed to keep people out or to keep people in.  The overall facility looks more like a place one would fill up a BBQ propane tank than gas up your car.  There's no overhead awning so when it rains, and it occasionally does now in LA because of Al Gore, you're gonna be hating life.

It's just not a very user friendly facility and I use Culver City only when I have to, like on the weekends when I don't feel like schlepping all the way to Torrance.  Granted, it's an older facility compared to the ones popping up like mushrooms in Burbank, Harbor City and Newport Beach, and hopefully they will update it to be more "consumer" friendly in the future.