yes, and while we're at correcting the utter stupidity of gas tank design, how about a fuel gauge hooked to a trip meter so we can see
how many miles we've gone SINCE the stupid idiot light went on...!

When I read the subject, I though "Oooh, great idea" -- but what you described wasn't what I thought it was.

I was recently told by an auto mechanic that, at least in my car, the fuel pump is inside the fuel tank, and it uses gasoline for lubrication. As a result, running with the fuel level low is a bad idea, comparable to running without oil in the engine. Any implementation of your idea would have to allow for this.

I suppose a cone-shaped tank would solve the problem, since the low point would remain the low point over a broad range of angles -- but that creates the problem of having a pointy thing full of gasoline sticking out under the bottom of the car.

The idea I thought you were going to discuss was having fuel intakes on both sides of the car, so you can pull up on either side of the pump. At a crowded station, I've often had to drive around the pumps to get the intake next to the pump. When I drive a borrowed or rental car, I seldom remember to check the position of the intake before pulling into a station, and I typically guess wrong and have to pull out and back in again. Adding an extra intake on the other side should solve this and allow for more efficient allocation of cars to pumps at gas stations.

Isn't it simply a matter of which direction you pull in from? ;-) I've yet to see a gas station that restricted which side you could pull in from...

At least half of the time that I swipe my debit card through the reader at the store, I've done it the wrong way. I will stare at the picture showing me how the card is supposed to go through for a long time, and manage to convince myself to put it in the opposite way.

Would it kill them to build card readers that let you swipe the card in either orientation?

I've thought about this issue myself, but in reading your article I realized that there really is only one drain needed and that would be a the lowest edge of the rear of the tank. If you are going downhill and run out of gas because the drain is sucking air you could easily just coast until you got to a level area and then the gas would flow again.

The main reason for not implementing these ideas is cost. It is simply not cost effective to have 2 or 4 lines leading out of the gas tank when 1 does the job just fine, not to mention you would then need 2 or 4 pumps. Not that I haven't done it many, many times, but you should never allow yourself to run that low on gas in the first place, especially if you know it's a problem with your particular car. My car never has any problems like that, so maybe the tank is designed better, in which case it comes to simply doing a better job in designing the tank rather than "jury-rigging" a needlessly complex and overly expensive system. I also originally thought it was meant for two intakes, one on either side of the vehicle, and tho it is a good idea, it may not be too aesthetically pleasing, and once again, it is not very cost-effective.

The problem that you are posing to fix has already been "fixed." Fuel tanks have a "reserve" basin in the middle of them. The fuel pump draws from this basin, and it is the last part to go dry. It is hard to explain how this works, but anybody that has ever replaced a fuel pump knows what I'm talking about if they looked inside the tank.

Picture looking down in the tank:

--------------------------------
|                               | 

As the tank gets low, gas sloshes around, running from end to end. This box has simple valve mechanisms that allow gas to enter, but not to leave -trapping gas inside the 3" high walls. This is where the pump pulls gas from. That is why you can drive around on less than 1 gallon of gas. Without this you would not be able to go up a 2% slope without at least 1/8th of a tank of gas.
Your vehicle sputtered going up the hill because the slope was so steep that the gallon left in the basin was all on one side, away from the pump's inlet sock.

Never drive your vehicle this low on fuel! The post about pumps using gas for "lubrication" is not entirely accurate, it servers as more of a coolant for the pump. Also, during winter years if you always have a low tank of gas, there will be more condensation inside of the tank. Fill up when you hit half a tank if at all plausible.

Are you joking? - just don't let your tank get that low. It can be really dangerous for you and your car to run out of gas.

I think cost might be the reason for this. It is really not feasible to have more than one. Would to hear everyone else's thought. Glad you brought something interesting.