“State of the FuelClinic” Report

July 2, 2008 · Filed Under FuelClinic.com, Fuelishness!

I’ve just stopped to reflect a little bit on some recent “small victories” here at FuelClinic…

This whole idea started over 2 years ago, when the love of my life explained to me that she’s been tracking her fuel mileage in a little notebook. She asked me what my mpg was, and I didn’t know. She asked me how much I was spending on gas, and I didn’t know that either… Once I had sat down and created a simple fuel mileage calculator, and added a few recent receipts I had saved, I was astonished to learn I was spendingÂ well overÂ $3000.00 a year in fuel… I had no idea. I asked around, and many of my friends were totally unaware of how much money they spend on fuel.

This neatÂ little fuel mileage calculator languished in back-burner status while my regular job got more demanding, and my other projects took over my time. It was just 3 short months ago that I decidedÂ it was “now or never” if I was really going to flesh-out FuelClinic and put it on the world’s stage.

At that timeÂ I set several milestones in place with the idea of measuring the public responsiveness to FuelClinic, and use that information to determine if it was feasible to quit my job and invest my time and savedÂ money to support the full development of FuelClinic into a viable business of one sort or another. I’mÂ astoundedÂ how quicklyÂ FuelClinic hasÂ blasted throughÂ the 2nd membership milestone I had set, and is racing toward my third major milestone. We now have a minimum number of users I feel are required to consider the site a buddingÂ success.

Over the past three months there is continuedÂ strong interest in the concept of the site -Â membership growth is also steady, and seems to only be restrictedÂ by my advertising budget. We welcome users from all over the world, using three distinct units of measure, and calculating three different currencies… and this is just the start. The best news is that returning site usage is growing stronger every day, with more and more members returning to track mileage on more and more vehicles.

Some quick stats: As a group, in the first three months, we haveÂ consumed 25,917 gal. of fuel while driving a total of 402,919 mi. and average just under 26 MPG.Â

We’re still in the infancy of this idea. The FuelClinic you have access to today is barely 10% of the total functionality that exists in my notes, on my drawing board, in my business plan, and still in my head. My problem is time, I simply have not yet had enough time to dedicate to finishing the first phase of this application. I continue to refine the calculations (I know many of you have been puzzled by some of my mistakes!) and continue to find new ways to connect the data in meaningful ways. I appreciate your patience as I work out the kinks.

About my time problem – I’ve made arrangements to reduce my work hours to a minimum – and still be able to pay my bills. I’m wrapping up another long-term project that has become very important recently, and is nearing completion. I’m committing the next twelve months to the development of FuelClinic, starting full-force in August. I estimate that Phase 1 will be completed within 30 days of that start date, and Phase 2 will be completed 60 days after the completion of the first phase.

Some things to look forward to:

Bug Fixes. There are several being tracked.
Computational errors will be ironed out and peer reviewed. There are someÂ gremlins in the cogs still.
A fresh new user interface. It’s already designed and tested, just need to be included in the site.
An AJAX library will be included, along with easier forms and more instantaneous feedback. (Think “Web 2.0″)
A weekly or monthly “fleet report” containing details of your vehicles historiesÂ emailed to you.
The beginnings of true multi-lingual and internationalization support
Import/Export of any of your data
Several “social” improvements to allow users to share experiences

There is so much more further along the roadmap.

I’m very excited that you’ve taken the time to check out my website. If you are a member – that’s great! There’s good things happening. If you are not yet a member, consider joining. It’s free, your information remains yours, and you’ll be among the first to use this website to take control of their fuelish behavior!

Sincerely,

- “Doc”