Propane: A Valuable Addition to the EV Charging Model
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By: Carolina Gura, Clean Transportation Intern
With the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Tax Credit ending June 30th, 2026, fleet managers have concerns about maintaining access to the infrastructure needed to charge EVs in their fleets. With already high wait times between requests for EV charging infrastructure and their installation, fewer incentives may result in further delays. Fleet leaders are finding an answer to this new problem from a traditional fuel source: propane.
According to Joel Stutheit, Senior Manager of Autogas Business Development at the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC), “Propane-powered EV charging gives fleets a reliable way to deploy electric vehicles now, without waiting on the grid while delivering energy resilience and cost control.”
Even with propane’s convenience, the beneficial environmental impacts of electric vehicles remain. Propane, a byproduct of natural gas production or crude oil refining, may not seem a particularly sustainable form of energy. However, with a carbon intensity score of 80 compared to diesel’s 100, propane burns far cleaner than other off-grid options. Renewable propane, a form of propane produced from renewable feedstocks, creates even stronger renewable effects with a carbon intensity score of only 20-43 (PERC, 2025). These reductions compound over time, resulting in significant emission decreases regardless of propane’s use as a short or long-term solution.
As Stutheit noted, propane generators offer a valuable solution to temporary EV charging barriers through their versatile and inexpensive installation. According to PERC, to provide electric power to a 10-bus fleet, installing a traditional EV charging station costs approximately $480,000. This often is not feasible for fleets transitioning to electric vehicles, as they may not have the necessary time or budget. In contrast, PERC estimates propane-powered EV charging stations of the same capacity cost approximately $60,000. They also require minimal installation, no grid connection, and can be relocated. (PERC, September 2024). This allows companies to begin integrating EVs into their fleets while awaiting funding to implement a more permanent solution.
Transportable propane stations are approximately the size of one parking space, so they fit wherever they are needed (PERC, July 2024). This allows fleet managers to consider a blend of traditional EV chargers and propane-powered ones, placing traditional stations in permanent locations and propane versions in areas that shift.
An example of this is Volt Vault Lite, a trailer-based transportable EV charging option available through U.S. Energy. According to Kelly Skiba, Regional Sales Manager of Electrification at U.S. Energy, “[Volt Vault Lite] gives our customers the ability to charge the way they want. They don’t have to wait to plug in to avoid peak demand charges, they can charge in remote locations where it was near impossible for electric vehicles to go and [it] provides resiliency for grid inconsistencies such as brownouts or weather incidents.” Skiba also explains that “Volt Vault is a solution for both short- term and long- term charging needs”, meeting companies’ charging demands in remote or shifting locations even after they install permanent grid-tied solutions in more stable areas.
By combining propane-powered charging with traditional grid-tied EV charging, fleet leaders gain long-term stability for their electric vehicle fleets. This allows organizations to meet and exceed sustainability goals far into the future while continuing to operate efficiently.