Renewable diesel stations in California

California: where renewable diesel replaced most of the diesel

Almost every gallon of renewable diesel made in or imported to the U.S. is burned in California, and the reason is a single policy. The state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) pays fuel suppliers a credit for every ton of carbon they keep out of the fuel pool, and renewable diesel cuts carbon intensity by about 65% against petroleum diesel on the California Air Resources Board's own numbers. By 2023, renewable diesel and biodiesel together made up 56% of the on-road diesel sold in the state, according to CARB's LCFS data. The pumps on this page are the retail end of that shift.

The rollout was fast and came from two brands. AFDC's open dates show roughly 530 renewable diesel pumps added in 2022 and another 500 in 2024, nearly all of them 76 and Chevron sites converting an existing diesel hose. They did it differently: 76 sells renewable diesel either straight (R99) or with a splash of biodiesel (R95, no more than B5), while Chevron's pumps are mostly R80 + B20, a blend that also satisfies CARB's Alternative Diesel Fuel rule, which requires biodiesel blends above B5 to be paired with something that offsets their extra NOx. Renewable diesel is the something. That is why so many Chevron pumps in this state appear on both this list and our California biodiesel page.

Independents fill in the gaps. Propel Fuels (its "Diesel HPR" is R99) runs stations in the Sacramento, Fresno and Bay areas; Pearson Fuels in San Diego County sells R80 and R95 blends; a handful of ARCO, Phillips 66 and Rocket sites in the Central Valley and Inland Empire sell R99. Love's and the other truck stops that show up in the biodiesel data mostly aren't here: the renewable diesel listings are overwhelmingly convenience stores and gas stations.

Tips for California drivers

• If your owner's manual limits you to B5 (most VW, Audi, Mercedes and BMW diesels, and pre-2011 pickups), use a 76 pump or any pump in the R99 table above. Chevron's R80 + B20 is over your limit; the biodiesel in it is what counts against the B5 cap, not the renewable diesel.
• Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego have the most pumps; the Central Valley along I-5 and CA-99 is dense enough to plan around. The north coast and the eastern Sierra are thin.
• Roughly one pump in twenty lists "contact station for hours." The rest are 24 hours. Fleet cards (Voyager, Wright Express) are accepted at about half the sites.

Policy summaries here are from CARB's LCFS and Alternative Diesel Fuel regulation pages and change often. The current California list is on the AFDC California laws and incentives page.