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Salt Lake City to Orange County - $35 each way
Tips for making your way up and down I-15 from the LA Basin to Las Vegas and Utah
OK, so you want to drive your NGV from Utah to Las Vegas and LA (or vice-versa)?
I recently drove from Salt Lake City to LA and it only cost me around $35 each way in fuel
An editor from our local paper also had a similar experience. Read about it here.
You probably already know about the Department of Energy's alternative fuels web site and station directory found here. This is a good start, but you should also download the following useful station guides:
This one is from Questar showing where to find CNG in Utah and Wyoming (you can download the PDF file here: Public fueling locations (Utah/Wyoming)
This one is from the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition. It includes information on stations in Nevada and Arizona too.
Now that you have these in hand, here are the tips (from North to South):
1. The Questar guide has not been updated for a few years. Since then, UDOT has changed some of the mile markers on I-15 (generally lowering the numbers by a few). For example, the Flying J at Springville is now exit 261, the Ogden Chevron is now at exit 343, etc. Call ahead if you are unsure.
2. Rather than having separate 3000/3600 pumps, Questar generally keeps all stations at 3300 psi as a compromise for the two types of systems out on the road. If you want a good 3600 psi fill check out: Logan, Park City, Richfield, Springville. I highly recommend a stop at Springville if you are heading south, as in a Civic GX it will give you the option of making it to Cedar City (just in case the Fillmore pump is down). Speaking of Fillmore, they have somewhat limited hours, generally from 6am to 10pm (11pm in the summer).
3. The St. George Utah station is now a Shell, not a Texaco as per the Questar guide. It also has very limited operating hours (typically 8am to 8pm). If you are heading south in a Civic GX you are going to want to fill here, as if you get anything less than the typical 3300 psi fill in Cedar City, 175 miles is going to be a close call to Vegas otherwise. The reverse (heading north) is not a big deal so long as you fill at 3600 psi in Vegas.
4. You can not use a credit card to fill in Las Vegas. You must first obtain a pre-paid GASCARD from Haycock Petroleum in Las Vegas (Haycock manages all of the pumps there). You can call them in advance of your trip at (702) 382-8559 and they will take your payment information and mail you a card. Or, you may go in person during business hours to fill out an application and pay for the pre-paid card. They will then direct you to one of the CNG pumps nearby.
My suggestion is that you head back up the 95 freeway about 8 miles to a great 3600 psi fill at the City of Las Vegas NW Service Center. Take the Cheyenne Ave. exit, head west, and you will see a turn-in lane to Ronemus Drive just before the traffic light at Buffalo Drive. Head all the way into this short road and you will find the pumps on the left. Of course, this is somewhat out of your way if you are just passing through Vegas, but by doing this you will be in great shape to head either north to Utah (in a Civic you can skip St. George and make it to Cedar City), or the other direction you can make it to Victorville, where there are two 24 hour access stations.
5. You may not be able to fill in Barstow if you have never filled in California before. The California pumps are networked and remember credit card information and issue the user a PIN for future fill-ups. So, in theory, the next pump you would visit will know who you are and that you know how to use the pump. Unfortunately, if you are heading south and this is your first time filling in California, be aware that the Barstow pumps have recently had the following problems:
a) the new user video does not play, so you can not get to the point where you are allowed to pump, and
b) the pumps have trouble connecting to the user database to authenticate the PIN
Hence my advice above: if you are coming from Vegas be sure to get a good 3600 psi fill in case you must continue on to Victorville!
Fortunately, the good folks at the City of Barstow realize that their pumps are a vital link in the fueling chain, so the following can be of assistance:
a) drivers of city vehicles can sometimes take cash from you and let you fill with their CleanEnergy card.
b) you can call the guys who manage this station to come bail you out:
Tom at 310-256-0311 or Bob Cooper at 760-255-5159
Another important tip regarding Barstow: If you are coming from the north, do not be confused with the "Old Highway 58" exit which is on the north side of town. You want keep going to the real-deal Highway 58 / Bakersfield exit which is near mile marker 179. Take the clover-leaf onto the 58 freeway, and then the first exit to Main Street. There are CNG/LPG signs directing you to the nearby filling station. Look for a tall white tank.
From here you are good to go into the Los Angeles basin where there are lots of fueling locations.
Have fun!
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