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Fuel Consumption Calculator

Created by Kenneth Alambra
Reviewed by Purnima Singh, PhD
Based on research by
John Misachi WorldAtlas;; October 6th 2017
Last updated: Jan 16, 2024


This fuel consumption calculator will help you estimate the amount of fuel a vehicle consumes at particular distances like 100 km, 10 km, and miles, to name a few, which we commonly use in determining fuel or gas consumption. In this calculator, you will learn the following:

  • What fuel consumption is;
  • How to use this fuel consumption calculator; and
  • How to calculate the fuel consumption of a vehicle.

Keep on reading to start learning.

What is fuel consumption?

When we travel by land using a fuel-powered vehicle, we either spend too much on fuel or don't really care about it (talk about life goals). However, for most of us who want to budget our travels, knowing our vehicle's fuel or gas consumption from a recent long trip can help us plan our future rides better.

Fuel consumption is a measure of how efficiently a vehicle uses up fuel, comparable to fuel economy (or fuel efficiency). Fuel economy quantifies a car's efficiency by how far a vehicle travels using a particular amount of fuel, i.e., in miles per gallon (MPG) or kilometers per liter (kmpl).

On the other hand, fuel consumption tells us how much fuel a vehicle burns fuel at a certain distance, e.g., in liters per kilometer (L/km) or liters per 100 kilometers (L/100km).

How to calculate the fuel consumption of a vehicle

Let's say we want to know a vehicle's fuel consumption that consumes two full tanks, in this case, 100 liters, to travel a total distance of 1320 km from France to Italy with some detours. To find the fuel consumption of this vehicle, we can substitute our known parameters in this fuel consumption formula to have:

Fuel consumption=Fuel usedDistance traveled=100 L1320 km=0.07576 L/km\scriptsize \begin{align*} \text{Fuel consumption} &= \frac{\text{Fuel used}}{\text{Distance traveled}}\\\\ &= \frac{100\ \text{L}}{1320\ \text{km}}\\\\ &= 0.07576\ \text{L}/\text{km} \end{align*}

From our calculation, we found that the vehicle consumes 0.07576 liters of fuel per kilometer. For a better perspective, we can convert it to the more typical unit of liters per 100 kilometers by multiplying our calculated value by 100 km/100 km100 \text{ km}/100 \text{ km}, as shown below:

Fuel consumption=0.07576 Lkm×100 km100 km=7.576 L/100 km\scriptsize \begin{align*} \text{Fuel consumption} &= 0.07576\ \tfrac{\text{L}}{\text{km}}\times \frac{100\ \text{km}}{100\ \text{km}}\\\\ &= 7.576\ \text{L}/100\ \text{km} \end{align*}

Now that is easier to imagine. 🙂

💡 Consequently, if you know the fuel efficiency of your vehicle, you can simply take its reciprocal to find your vehicle's fuel consumption, as shown in this fuel consumption formula:

Fuel consumption=1Fuel efficiency{\text{Fuel consumption} = \frac{1}{\text{Fuel efficiency}}}

How to use this fuel consumption calculator

For faster fuel or gas consumption calculation, you can use our calculator by entering the distance traveled and the fuel used to determine the fuel consumption instantly.

You can also use our fuel consumption calculator in Advance mode to display the equivalent fuel efficiency of your vehicle and to enter the fuel price to calculate your total trip cost in terms of fuel.

If you want to learn more about fuel usage of vehicles, particularly regarding the economy of consuming fuel, here is a list of our other fuel and gas consumption calculators you can check out:

FAQ

How do I calculate fuel cost per mile?

To calculate fuel cost per mile, say a vehicle traveled 45 miles and used 1.75 US gallons of fuel:

  1. First, determine the fuel consumption by dividing the fuel used by the distance traveled:

    1.75 US gallons / 45 miles = 0.03889 gal/mi (US).

  2. Then, multiply the fuel consumption by the fuel price, say $8 per US gallon. We then have 0.03889 gal/mi (US) × $8 per US gallon = $0.31111/mi ≈ $0.31/mi.

How do I calculate fuel consumption per 100 km?

To calculate fuel consumption per 100 km, divide the amount of fuel used in liters by the distance in kilometers and multiply the product by 100. If you want to find the fuel consumption per 10 km, perform the same first step but multiply the product by 10 instead of 100.

Kenneth Alambra
Distance traveled
mi
Fuel used
US gal
Fuel consumption
gal/mi (US)
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