WASHINGTON -- NGVAmerica and the Clean Vehicle Education Foundation (CVEF) have awarded Kwik Trip Inc., La Crosse, Wis., the "Outstanding NGV Market Development Leadership" award for building the nation's first truly alternative fuels station in La Crosse--a personal investment of $3 million.
The design of the station itself is a marvel, they said, because it incorporates 10 transportation fuels, including compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG), under a single canopy to achieve a one-stop fueling experience for the general public.
Kwik Trip currently has three locations offering CNG, which sells for between $1.59 and $1.79 per gasoline gallon equivalent (GGE) in Wisconsin, and plans to open five more stations this year. An additional 10 stations are slated to open in 2013.
Kwik Trip's own natural gas vehicle (NGV) fleet will serve as part of the anchor load. The company maintains a fleet of about 400 vehicles that travel more than 18 million miles annually. It has just begun to transform its fleet and currently operates more than 20 NGVs ranging from light-duty vehicles to Class 8 trucks.
The retailer is an activist for the NGV industry and strongly advocates the nationwide adoption of natural gas to be a standard fuel instead of an alternative fuel.
Kwik Trip operates a chain of 372 Kwik Trip, Kwik Star (in Iowa) and Kwik Trip Travel Center locations throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. Another 38 locations are tobacco outlets, as well as three Hearty Platter full-serve restaurants.
Click here to view Kwik Trip's natural gas webpage.
CSP Business Media recently named Kwik Trip CEO Don Zietlow as its 2012 Retail Leader of the Year. The chain also recently won the annual CSP-Service Intelligence Mystery Shop.
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NGVAmerica and CVEF are dedicated to increasing the use of natural gas-powered vehicles to improve air quality, lessen dependence on foreign oil and reduce fleet operator costs in the United States. In all, they announced 10 2012 winners of the NGV Achievement Award in addition to one NGV Lifetime Achievement Award.
They give the awards to persons and organizations to recognize outstanding contributions in leadership, vision and innovation to the advancement of natural gas as a vehicular fuel.
Along with Kwik Trip, the 2012 NGV Achievement Award winners were:
- Chuck Feinberg/New Jersey Clean Cities Coalition, "Outstanding NGV Advocate-Ally."
- DeKalb County, Ga., Department of Sanitation, "Innovative Landfill Gas-to-CNG Project." Saddle Creek Logistics Services, "Outstanding NGV 3PL Industry Leadership."
- Golden Eagle Distributors Inc., "Outstanding CNG Fleet & Station Program"
- City of Nashua, N.H., "Exemplary CNG Fleet & Station Program."
- Pennsylvania State Representative Stan Saylor (R), "NGV Public Policy Champion."
- Frito-Lay North America Inc., "Exemplary CNG Fleet & Station Program."
- Green Energy Oilfield Services LLC, "Exemplary Shale Play LNG Truck Deployment Program."
- Paper Transport Inc., "Outstanding NGV 3PL Industry Leadership."
- William J. Calvert, "NGV Lifetime Achievement Award."
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