NREL Alternative Fuel Stations Scraper

Extract alternative fuel station data from the U.S. Department of Energy's NREL Alternative Fuel Station Locator — the most comprehensive database of EV charging stations, hydrogen fueling stations, CNG stations, biodiesel stations, and more across the United States. This Actor provides structured access to 88,000+ alternative fuel stations with detailed location data, equipment specifications, pricing information, and operational status.

Whether you need EV charging station data for fleet planning, hydrogen fueling station locations for route optimization, or a complete inventory of alternative fuel infrastructure for market research, this scraper delivers clean, structured JSON output ready for analysis, mapping, or integration into your applications.

Key Features

Feature	Description
88,000+ stations	Access the full NREL database of alternative fuel stations across all 50 states
8 fuel types	Electric (EV), CNG, LPG, Biodiesel, E85, Hydrogen, LNG, Renewable Diesel
Rich EV data	Connector types, Level 1/2/DC Fast charger counts, network, pricing
Flexible filtering	Search by state, city, ZIP code, fuel type, EV network, station status
GPS coordinates	Latitude/longitude for every station — ready for mapping and geospatial analysis
Verified data	NREL regularly confirms station data — includes last-confirmed dates
Fast & reliable	Direct API access, no browser needed — results in seconds

Data Fields Extracted

Field	Type	Description
id	Number	Unique NREL station identifier
stationName	String	Station name
stationPhone	String	Contact phone number
facilityType	String	Type of facility (e.g., AIRPORT, HOTEL, CAR_DEALER)
ownerTypeCode	String	Owner type (P=Private, LG=Local Gov, SG=State Gov, FG=Federal Gov)
statusCode	String	Status: E (Open), P (Planned), T (Temporarily Unavailable)
accessCode	String	Access type: public, private
accessDaysTime	String	Hours of operation
cardsAccepted	String	Accepted payment cards
streetAddress	String	Street address
city	String	City
state	String	Two-letter state code
zip	String	ZIP code
country	String	Country code
latitude	Number	GPS latitude
longitude	Number	GPS longitude
fuelTypeCode	String	Fuel type code (ELEC, CNG, HY, etc.)
openDate	String	Date station opened
dateLastConfirmed	String	Date data was last verified by NREL
evConnectorTypes	Array	EV connector types (J1772, CCS, CHAdeMO, Tesla, etc.)
evDcFastCount	Number	Number of DC fast chargers
evLevel1Count	Number	Number of Level 1 EVSE
evLevel2Count	Number	Number of Level 2 EVSE
evNetwork	String	EV charging network (Tesla, ChargePoint, etc.)
evNetworkWeb	String	EV network website URL
evPricing	String	EV charging pricing details

How to Scrape NREL Alternative Fuel Station Data

1. Go to this Actor's page on the Apify Store.
2. Click "Start" to open the input configuration form.
3. Set your filters:
   • Enter a State code (e.g., CA for California) to limit results to one state.
   • Select a Fuel Type (e.g., ELEC for EV charging stations).
   • Optionally filter by City, ZIP Code, EV Network, or Station Status.
4. (Optional) Add your NREL API key — get a free one at developer.nrel.gov/signup. The DEMO_KEY works but is limited to 30 requests/hour.
5. Set Max Results — defaults to 100. Set higher (up to 100,000) for large exports.
6. Click "Start" and wait for results.
7. Download your data as JSON, CSV, or Excel from the Output tab.

Input Example

{
    "state": "CA",
    "fuelType": "ELEC",
    "evNetwork": "Tesla",
    "status": "E",
    "maxResults": 500
}

Output Example

{
    "id": 27036,
    "stationName": "Burlington International Airport",
    "stationPhone": "802-863-2874  802-865-7571",
    "facilityType": "AIRPORT",
    "ownerTypeCode": "LG",
    "statusCode": "E",
    "accessCode": "public",
    "accessDaysTime": "24 hours daily",
    "streetAddress": "1200 Airport Dr",
    "city": "South Burlington",
    "state": "VT",
    "zip": "05403",
    "country": "US",
    "latitude": 44.469281,
    "longitude": -73.154972,
    "fuelTypeCode": "ELEC",
    "openDate": "2014-04-01",
    "dateLastConfirmed": "2023-09-14",
    "evConnectorTypes": ["NEMA520"],
    "evDcFastCount": null,
    "evLevel1Count": 2,
    "evLevel2Count": null,
    "evNetwork": "Non-Networked",
    "evPricing": null
}

Pricing

This Actor uses a pay-per-result pricing model:

Event	Cost
Actor Start	$0.00005
Per result	$0.002

Example costs:

• 100 stations: ~$0.20
• 1,000 stations: ~$2.00
• 10,000 stations: ~$20.00

You also pay standard Apify platform compute costs on top of the per-result pricing.

API Key

This Actor uses the NREL Developer API, which requires an API key:

• Without a key: The Actor uses DEMO_KEY, which allows 30 requests/hour and 50 requests/day. Sufficient for small queries (under ~6,000 stations).
• With a free key: Sign up at developer.nrel.gov/signup for 1,000 requests/hour. Recommended for large exports.

Use Cases

• EV Fleet Management: Map all charging stations along delivery routes, filtered by connector type and network.
• Real Estate Analysis: Identify properties near EV charging infrastructure for green building certification or value assessment.
• Market Research: Analyze the distribution of alternative fuel stations by state, fuel type, or network for competitive intelligence.
• Government & Policy: Track the growth of clean energy infrastructure over time using open dates and confirmation dates.
• Renewable Energy Business Development: Identify areas underserved by alternative fuel stations for new installation opportunities.
• RAG/AI Pipelines: Feed structured station data into LLM-powered applications for location-aware energy infrastructure queries.

Related Actors

• SBIR/STTR Awards Scraper — Extract government grant data
• EPA ECHO Scraper — Environmental compliance data
• Energy Star Scraper — Certified energy-efficient products

FAQ

Q: How current is the data? A: The NREL API provides real-time access to the Alternative Fuel Station Locator database. Each station record includes a dateLastConfirmed field showing when NREL last verified the information.

Q: Can I scrape all 88,000+ stations at once? A: Yes, set maxResults to 100,000 and leave all filters empty. With a free NREL API key, this takes a few minutes. With DEMO_KEY, you may hit rate limits.

Q: What EV networks are available? A: Major networks include Tesla, ChargePoint, Electrify America, EVgo, Blink, SemaConnect, Volta, and many more. Use the evNetwork filter to target specific networks.

Q: Is this data free to use? A: The NREL Alternative Fuel Station Locator is a U.S. government resource and the data is publicly available. You only pay for Apify compute and this Actor's per-result pricing.

Legal Disclaimer

This Actor accesses publicly available data from the U.S. Department of Energy's NREL Alternative Fuel Station Locator API. The data is provided by a U.S. government agency for public use. This Actor does not bypass any authentication, scrape personal data, or violate any terms of service. Users are responsible for ensuring their use of the extracted data complies with applicable laws and regulations. For support, open an issue on this Actor's page or contact the developer.