Propane autogas basics: filling a vehicle, not a cylinder
Updated October 24, 2026
Autogas is propane used as a vehicle fuel. Fleets of school buses, delivery vans, shuttles and police cars run on it, and some RVs and pickups have been converted. The fuel is the same propane that goes in a grill tank; the pump and the nozzle are different.
The nozzle
A cylinder fill uses an ACME threaded connector that screws onto the tank valve. An autogas pump uses a quick-connect nozzle that locks onto a fill port on the vehicle, like a gasoline nozzle with a latch. A station can have one or both. In the station list, “Refill” means the ACME cylinder connector is present and “Autogas” means the quick-connect nozzle is. Roughly a quarter of the listed refill stations have both.
Where the pumps are
Autogas pumps are concentrated at U-Haul stores, propane dealers that serve fleets, and travel centers along interstates. Some are card-reader pumps open around the clock; those account for most of the “Open 24 hours” entries in the finder. Use the “Autogas pump” filter on the finder to see them.
Filling
Autogas fills are self-serve at card pumps and attended at dealers. The tank on the vehicle has its own overfill protection, so the pump stops at 80 percent. Prices are per gallon and are often posted on the pump; they are usually below the gasoline price at the same location because propane carries a lower fuel tax in most states.
Converting a vehicle
Conversions are done by certified installers and use EPA-certified kits for the specific engine. The Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center lists installers and current incentives by state. A conversion makes sense for a vehicle that drives a lot of miles near a pump; for a single family car it rarely pays back.
Autogas and grill tanks
An autogas pump cannot fill a grill cylinder, and a cylinder fill station cannot fill a vehicle, unless the station has both nozzles. Check the labels on the station row before you drive.