PRAIRE DU CHIEN, Wis. – La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip Inc. is tapping into the future of retail fueling with an emphasis on compressed natural gas (CNG).

According to the Courier Press, Kwik Trip has opened 14 stations this year with plans to reach 25. Kwik Trip is developing a CNG infrastructure throughout its chain of 400-plus stores in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, by installing pumps at interstate locations. The town of Prairie du Chien, writes the news source, is being considered as a possible location for a Kwik Trip site that offers CNG, which would become the first location that’s not near an interstate.

“We are evaluating all areas,” Joel Hirschboeck, superintendent of alternative fuels for Kwik Trip, told the news source, adding that Dubuque is also a contender. “We have to consider potential demand, amount of traffic through an area, and where a store is situated on the grid of our basic infrastructure.”

There are three reasons why Kwik Trip is focusing on CNG.  First, according to Hirschboeck, is price — $1.59 per gallon of CNG versus more than $3 a gallon of regular gasoline. Second, CNG is abundant in the United States. And third, it’s a clean fuel that produces 90% less emissions and 25% less greenhouse gases. “For the same amount of energy and the same miles per gallon, you’re saving money, the dollars you spend are going back into the U.S. economy and its cleaner for the environment,” he said.

As Kwik Trip moves forward with CNG, its distribution fleet, Convenience Transportation, owns and operates more than 30 natural gas vehicles (NGV), with plans to convert its entire fleet.

“Through our own anchor fleet, we can test, promote and educate Kwik Trip consumers about the benefits of natural gas as a vehicle fuel,” Hirschboeck told the news source, adding, “Kwik Trip’s goal is to promote and market the knowledge that it acquires from purchasing, operating and maintaining its own NGV fleet.”