WASHINGTON - A new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) suggests that although gasoline remains by far the dominant transportation fuel, a variety of alternative fuels are currently in use, primarily by government and private fleets. These fuels include electricity, propane, higher ethanol-gasoline blends (E85), hydrogen, and natural gas. In aggregate, there are currently about 10,000 alternative fuel stations in the United States, compared to approximately 160,000 gasoline stations in the country.
Several alternative fuels have been developed for use in motor vehicles. Most alternative fuels require vehicles specifically made to handle that fuel, such as electric vehicles. Other fuels such as E85 may be used in flex-fuel vehicles. The use of alternative fuels often requires new refueling station infrastructure.
Biodiesel blends differ in the proportion of petroleum diesel and bio-based fuel. More than half of the stations are private access (for government or private fleets only). Of the 347 private access stations, nearly a third are in North Carolina.
Natural gas can be compressed and stored in tanks at pressures up to 3,600 pounds per square inch to be used as transportation fuel. More than half of the compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel stations in the nation are private access.
There are more than 3,000 existing electric charging stations across the country, more stations than for any other alternative fuel. Of these, nearly 85% are publicly accessible. In total, there are more than 8,000 electric charging units available at these stations. This does not include residential electric charging units.
Nearly all gasoline sold in the United States is blended with 10% ethanol content. There is a major concentration of E85 stations in the corn-producing Midwest region of the United States.
Use of hydrogen as a transportation fuel requires reducing its volume by compressing the fuel (at pressures up to 10,000 pounds per square inch), cooling to very low temperatures (-423?F) to produce liquid hydrogen, or chemically bonding hydrogen to other compounds. Of the alternative fuels discussed here, hydrogen has the fewest number of fuel stations.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is produced by purifying and condensing natural gas to a liquid state by cooling to -260?F. Because it needs to be stored at such cold temperatures, LNG vehicles require specialized vacuum-insulated pressure vessels. LNG is typically only used in heavy-duty vehicles. Compared to the number of existing LNG fuel stations, there is a large network of stations planned along interstate highways.
Propane has the second-highest number of fuel stations among alternative fuels. Over 90% of the existing stations are publicly accessible. Of the private access stations, nearly 60% are located in Indiana.