Prior to driving a CNG powered truck, I had imagined my first CNG fueling experience would be something like being suited up in a chemical suit and pulling my rig into a secure industrial gas production plant. Although this is a little far-fetched, some of the stories I had heard made it seem as though it was supposed to be a huge challenge just to find a decent place to fuel in the first place! Now that I actually had a truck requiring this fuel, it was time to face the rumors of fueling head on and conquer the supposed grief of finding a CNG truck fueling station! With technology to guide me, as well as a little off-time homework in my personal vehicle, I was able to settle some of the fears right away.
With several apps and mobile browsing sites available (You know I love my mobile apps!) I was able to locate a great deal of prospective stations offering public CNG fueling within my operational area. With one site in particular that actually listed recently updated prices, pricing seemed quite sporadic and it was difficult to locate an “average price”, which is what I have come to expect now after a few weeks of fueling it on a regular basis. Do not let this deter you from the bigger picture though, as it is still a cheaper fuel when you locate the right priced station. This is where the off-time homework comes into play! Once I was armed with addresses of several stations, I was able to take some personal time to scope them out properly.
Being a local driver, I opted of to use my automobile for scoping these places out, rather than driving into unknown stations with seventy feet of truck and trailer. Most of the average CNG stations are not your traditional idea of a “fueling station” or “truck stop”. You are not likely to find convenience stores, station attendants, or scales on the properties of these public pumps. If you are extremely lucky, you may actually find one that has a restroom should the need arise! What I have come to expect are usually just a couple pumps, a credit card reader and a couple of trashcans. If you find a commercial 
fueling station resembling a modern truck stop that carries CNG but has certain extra amenities, what I have come to expect is that you will pay for the “convenience” in the price of the fuel. These larger stations usually offer easy truck access and even some other truck stop services, such as showers and fast food locations. However, I have noticed that these stations tend to command a premium for their fuel price and can be quite a bit pricier than your smaller public pumps ($0.50 - $0.70 per gallon equivalent by my own 
observations). What I find in the small public pump stations is that they offer something more valuable than truck stop amenities to me...Savings!!! Mapping out the lowest priced sites ahead of time and doing my research into the differences in pricing has enabled me to now fuel at stations giving me an average price of $2.496 per gallon, when compared to a gallon of diesel fuel. A quick reminder that diesel 
fuel just so happens to be hovering just above the $4.00 per gallon mark here in California! Stand by for more to come on the actual cost per mile, as I run some more fuel through the truck and tailor my driving habits to this particular powertrain.
As for the actual fueling process, it is no more complicated than fueling your rig or gassing up your car. Swipe your card, attach the nozzle and let the machine take over until it beeps when you are full. Once finished, detaching the coupling and getting your receipt are all that is left to do. I have witnessed at different sites in my area that whole process can be done in anywhere from ten to twenty minutes depending on the pressure of the station at that particular time. This may 
seem like a lot of time to some people for fueling when considering the need to fill up every other day, but does not seem as bad when the fuel savings that are to be had off of your bottom line are taken into consideration. Now that I have cleared through some of the haze in the fueling process proven that I don't have to wear a chemical suit or have the haz-mat response team on stand-by to gas up, I can now fuel with ease and continue seeing just what this CNG powered Cascadia is capable of!