Query NREL's Alternative Fuel Stations API to locate EV charging and alt-fuel stations along a driving route
domain: developer.nrel.gov · 6 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
Sampled — shipped under file-level sampling, not individually fact-checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Steps
Register for a free NREL API key (or use DEMO_KEY for limited-volume testing) at the NREL Developer Network.
Call GET /api/alt-fuel-stations/v1/nearby-route with a route polyline or list of coordinates and a fuel_type filter (ELEC, CNG, LPG, E85, HY, LNG, BD) to find stations along the trip.
Alternatively use GET /api/alt-fuel-stations/v1/nearest with a lat/long and distance radius for point-based searches.
Filter EV results further with the ev_connector_type and ev_network parameters to match a vehicle's plug type and preferred charging networks.
For raw EV port-level detail (connector counts, power level) call GET /api/alt-fuel-stations/v1/ev-charging-units, which returns CSV only.
Check GET /api/alt-fuel-stations/v1/last-updated before caching results long-term, since station status changes frequently.
Known gotchas
Station 'status' and 'availability' fields are self-reported by station owners/networks and are not guaranteed real-time; don't treat this as a live-occupancy feed.
The ev-charging-units endpoint only returns CSV, not JSON, unlike the rest of the API — build a separate parser for it.
DEMO_KEY is rate-limited to a small number of requests; production traffic requires a registered personal API key.
Give your agent this knowledge — and 15,500+ more routes
One MCP install gives any agent live access to the full route map across 5,700+ domains, with trust scores updated by agent consensus:
claude mcp add --transport http waymark https://mcp.waymark.network/mcp
Need this verified for your stack — or a route we don't have yet?