I actually think this is the best model of f2p. I haven't played one of these racing games, but it's basically just like Candy Crush, right? With Candy Crush, I can get in about 15-30 minutes of gameplay before I hit the paywall, but if I just wait a few hours everything will fully recharge.
My question to anyone who hates that is: Why are you playing Candy Crush for more than 10-15 minutes? It's not a console game. It's not meant to be played that long. I rarely hit the paywall because I don't play mobile games for long, just when I'm waiting at the doctor's office or whatever. If I hit the paywall and still want to play, I can just switch over to a different game. I've never spent a cent on Candy Crush and I've been playing for over a year.
This kind of fuel mechanic would not be acceptable in a console game, the kind of game where you sit down to play for hours. I could understand getting mad about that. But in a f2p mobile game, who cares?? It's absolutely the best option because it will almost never be an issue.