Guides for drivers

Driver guides: find fuel and charging, faster and cheaper

Every guide answers a real question drivers ask on the road: how to find fuel fast, dodge dead chargers, plan trips, and pay less at the pump. No fluff, just what works.

New to driving? Start here

The guides that cover what nobody explains: how a fuel stop actually works, how to stay safe on a forecourt, what the payment options really cost you, and the one mistake that is genuinely expensive.

Finding fuel 4

How to find fuel availability near you in real timeA practical guide to finding a fuel station that actually has fuel right now: using your location, filters, driver reports and freshness timestamps.How to check if a gas station is open right nowOpening hours change, and a pin doesn't tell you if the forecourt is live. Here's how to check whether a station is actually open before you drive there.How to read station opening hours (and why they change)Opening hours look simple but hide traps: overnight pay-at-pump, breaks, holidays. Here's how to read them and confirm a station is really open.Paying at the pump: cards, cash, apps and contactlessA guide to fuel payment methods: pay-at-pump vs kiosk, cards, cash, mobile apps, pre-authorisation holds, and how to avoid surprises.

EV charging 8

A truck needs 3.75 megawatts1,250 volts at 3,000 amps, about ten times a fast car charger. IEC 63379 landed in February 2026. Why that power is not the same electricity your car can use, and what it does to a motorway stop.Why your EV charges slower in the coldCold batteries accept charge slowly for a physical reason. What is happening inside the pack, and why preconditioning changes the outcome.How EV drivers can avoid broken chargersBroken and occupied chargers are the biggest source of EV range anxiety. Here's how to check connector type, power and recent status so you arrive at one that works.EV connector types explained: CCS, CHAdeMO, Type 2 and NACSA clear guide to EV charging connectors: CCS, CHAdeMO, Type 2, NACS/Tesla and GB/T, so you know which your car uses and which chargers to look for.AC vs DC charging: speeds, costs and when each makes senseThe difference between AC and DC EV charging, how each affects charging time and cost, and how to choose the right one for the moment.How to read EV charging speeds (kW) and what they mean for wait timeWhat the kW number on an EV charger really tells you, why your car might charge slower than the rating, and how to estimate your wait.One in seven charging attempts failsA study of 7,428 EV owners put a number on it: 14% of public charging attempts produce no charge, and 60% of those are a unit that is simply out of service. Why “available” does not mean “works”.Why one charging card does not work at every chargerRoaming is a contract, not a cable standard. How CPOs, eMSPs and OCPI actually fit together, why a valid card gets rejected, and what EU law forces to change by 2027.

How it works 5

Why fuel and EV apps send you to stations that are closed or dryHow mapping data, charging network backends and national price feeds produce confident wrong answers, and what a fuel and EV map can honestly do about it.How driver reports keep station data accurateCrowdsourced station data is only useful if you can trust it. Here's how timestamps and confirmation counts turn one report into reliable information.How to report a station's status and help other driversA quick guide to reporting fuel availability, queues, prices and charger status on Refuelia: what to report, how it's used, and why it matters.Why a closed petrol station stays on the map for yearsMap data records what exists, not what is open today: there is no field for price or stock anywhere in the schema. How OpenStreetMap tags a station, what check_date means, and why one pin is never a plan.How we calculate confidenceThe exact arithmetic behind the confidence percentage: the age bands, the source weights, and what the number cannot tell you.

Saving money 6

The tyre label nobody readsTyres cost about 1.16 litres per 100 km in rolling losses. The label grades that A–E next to wet grip, where every class is 3–6 metres of braking distance, and the two pull against each other.Your car measures its own fuel useSince 2021 every new car records what it actually burns. The Commission collected 617,194 of them: petrol cars used 23.7% more than the official figure, petrol plug-in hybrids 238% more.Fuel scams: free-petrol offers, fake apps and QR codesThe four things a real offer never asks for, what the common scams look like, and what to do if you have already paid.Refuelia vs Google Maps, Waze and Apple MapsWhere each app gets its fuel prices, what it will not tell you, and which one to open. Sources named, gaps stated — including ours.How to compare fuel prices before a tripFuel is one of the biggest controllable costs of any drive. Here's how to compare prices before you leave so you fill up where it's cheapest, not just nearest.Practical ways to save money on fuelConcrete, no-nonsense ways to cut your fuel bill, where you buy, how you drive, and how you plan, without gimmicks.How fuel prices are set and why they vary station to stationWhat actually drives the price at the pump: crude oil, taxes, distribution, local competition, and why two nearby stations can differ so much.

Prices and the market 8

Diesel just broke a record nobody wantedOn 17 August 2026 the US diesel crack passed $100 a barrel for the first time ever. Russian export halts, the thinnest US stocks since 1996 and harvest season did it together — what it means at the pump, without panic.Why diesel costs more than petrol, and sometimes lessPump prices are mostly tax, not fuel. Why diesel beats petrol in some countries, loses in others, and why the gap between them keeps moving.Where fuel prices actually come fromGermany forces stations to report a price change within five minutes. France publishes six fuel types as open data. Most of the world has no official feed at all: a reference to who really knows the price.Why the same fuel costs different money across a borderThe EU harmonised the structure of fuel taxes and only the minimums, not the rates. Most of the gap between neighbouring countries is fiscal, and the Commission publishes prices with and without tax so you can see it.A fuel shortage is almost never a shortage of fuelEU states hold 61–90 days of reserves by law. So what actually empties is the tank under the forecourt, and the topping-up wave that does it. Why timestamps matter most in a crisis.Britain made live fuel prices the lawSince February 2026 every UK forecourt must publish price changes within 30 minutes, enforced with fines. At launch a quarter of stations still were not on the system, which tells you what “live prices” really costs.Motorway fuel costs up to 26p a litre more: now there is proofTwo months of mandatory UK price data measured what drivers only suspected: a £14-a-tank motorway premium, and a 16p spread between stations ten minutes apart, wider than the gap between supermarket and non-supermarket brands.Prices rise like a rocket and fall like a featherKorean data: pumps pass on 58% of a cost rise in four weeks but only 38% of a fall. Germany has had mandatory real-time price reporting since 2013, and the asymmetry survived it. Why, and what that leaves drivers.

Fuel basics 11

What the shapes on a European fuel pump actually meanA circle, a square, a diamond: what EN 16942 fuel labels mean, the real difference between E5, E10, E85, B7, B10 and XTL, and whether E10 is safe for your car CNG versus LPG: two gases, wrongly treated as oneLPG is propane and butane under mild pressure. CNG is methane at 200 bar. Different tanks, nozzles, range and conversion cost, sourced and compared.The tank under the forecourtEN 590 allows 200 mg of water per kg of diesel. Then the fuel waits underground for weeks. Where water gets in, what grows at the interface, and why turnover matters more than the brand on the canopy.Hydrogen refuelling is nothing like petrolThe gas is chilled to −40 °C before it reaches your car and the dispenser negotiates with the vehicle throughout. EU law wants one station every 200 km by 2030, rated in tonnes per day, not pumps.Your first fuel stop: a calm walkthrough for new driversWhich side is the filler on, which nozzle to take, how payment works, and the small habits that stop a first fuel stop going wrong.Petrol vs diesel: what every driver should knowA plain-language comparison of petrol and diesel: how they differ, which suits which driving, and what to check before you fill up.What is LPG (autogas) and where to find itLPG or autogas is a lower-cost alternative fuel for adapted petrol cars. Here's how it works, its trade-offs, and how to find stations that sell it.What is CNG and is it right for your vehicleCompressed natural gas (CNG) is a cleaner-burning fuel used in adapted and purpose-built vehicles. Here's how it compares and how to find CNG stations.The label on the nozzleCircle is petrol, square is diesel, diamond is gas. Standardised across the EU since 12 October 2018, and the number is a maximum, not a recipe. How to never mis-fuel abroad.HVO100 is not diesel: it is a different standardNeat renewable diesel is certified under EN 15940, not EN 590: cetane up to 71, no FAME, lower density. Yet the same molecule is already blended into ordinary diesel unlabelled. Which route you are on decides whether approval matters.AdBlue is not a fuel additive32.5% urea in deionised water, with insolubles capped at 20 mg/kg under ISO 22241. Freezing at −11 °C is designed for: it is heat that ruins it, which makes a spare can in the boot the worst place to keep one.

Road trips 5

One box, one contract: European tollsA 2019 directive harmonised how tolls are collected across borders, not what countries charge. Why vignettes and distance tolls lead to opposite decisions, and why an unpaid toll now follows you home.How to plan fuel stops on a long road tripA step-by-step approach to planning fuel stops on a long drive: spacing, timing, price and having backups, so you never get caught short.How to plan an EV road trip without range anxietyPractical EV trip planning: spacing charges, using the 10–80% band, having backup chargers and reading live status, so long drives stay relaxed.Low emission zones: the rule you cannot see200+ cities, 10 countries, every city setting its own rules, and a fine that arrives by post weeks later. What to check before you drive, and why no single European database exists.When there is only one stationComparison assumes a choice. On an island there is none: witnesses put the Inverness–Uist gap at 20p a litre, against a duty relief of 5p unchanged since 2015. What actually helps when shopping around is impossible.

Safety 3

Put the wrong fuel in your car? Do not start the enginePetrol in a diesel or diesel in a petrol car: what actually happens, why starting the engine is the costly mistake, and the right order of steps.Fuel station safety: the basics worth knowingWhat actually causes forecourt fires, why static is the real risk, why you should stop at the click, and how to carry fuel safely.What to do if you run out of fuel on the roadCalm, practical steps if you run out of fuel or charge: how to stay safe, get moving again, and avoid it next time.

Seasonal 2

Winter driving: fuel and EV charging tipsHow cold weather affects fuel, diesel and EV range, and the practical habits that keep winter journeys safe and stress-free.Winter diesel: why fuel gels, and what the grade meansEN 590 defines six temperate grades and five arctic classes, from +5 °C down to −44 °C. The pump tells you none of it, and fuel bought somewhere mild stays mild-graded when you drive north.

One map for fuel, charging and repair

Open it, look, drive on. If you saw something worth passing on, you can confirm fuel or a working charger there and then without an account. A price or a comment needs a free Google sign-in.

Find fuel near me → How to use it

Why Refuelia

The only honest map of fuel & EV — worldwide

Where there’s really fuel and a really working charger, right now. Prices come from drivers — someone types in what they actually paid, so it is real, timestamped, and missing until somebody posts it. We never invent a number. Fuel and EV together, worldwide, free.

Open the live map →Sponsor Refuelia →

Passed a station today? Confirm it on the map — one tap, no account, and the next driver sees it.

What a pin can say

Fuel available

a driver confirmed it, and the card says when

Limited fuel

some grades out, or a queue at the pump

No fuel

somebody stood there and told us

Open by its timetable

the posted hours say open. Nobody has checked

No fresh report

and the map says so, rather than guessing

Every other map draws the first one and stops. The last two are the point: when nobody has checked, this map says nobody has checked, instead of guessing green.