Towing Fuel Cost Calculator
What the van adds per 1,000km
Towing costs fuel because your engine has to drag the van's weight and push its air out of the way.
Tell us what you get without the van and we turn those two forces into litres and dollars.
1. Your car, without the van
We do not hold fuel figures for individual vehicles, so we never guess yours.Use the number off your own dash or your last few fills.
2. What you are towing
Pick a range to prefill its ATM, or type the ATM off your compliance plate.
ATM is on the compliance plate, and it is the figure the estimate uses, because fuel is burnt hauling the loaded van, not the empty one. See our plate guide.
3. Price and distance
We do not publish a fuel price, because the one that matters is the one you pay.
Towing this rig
Enter what your car uses without the van, and the van's ATM, and the estimate appears here.
A theoretical estimate
This tool calculates physical work and converts it to litres. It is not a measurement of any particular vehicle.We hold no fuel consumption data for individual cars, and we will not publish a figure for yours that we cannot stand behind.Treat the result as a planning figure and check it against your own fills.
How the estimate is calculated
Two forces do the extra work when you hitch up. The van's tyres resist rolling, in proportion to its weight, and the van pushes extra air aside, in proportion to its frontal shape and the square of your speed. Add them, multiply by distance to get energy, then divide by the energy in a litre of fuel and the share of it that reaches the wheels.
Every assumption it uses
- Rolling resistance coefficient of 0.01, sealed road.
- Air density of 1.2 kg per cubic metre.
- A steady 90km/h. Faster than that and drag climbs sharply, so the estimate reads low.
- 30% of the fuel's energy reaching the wheels.
- 38.6 megajoules per litre of diesel, 34.2 for petrol.
- Extra drag area by shape: full-height tourer 1.9 square metres, pop top or hybrid 1.2 square metres, small or teardrop 0.7 square metres.
- Your own consumption without the van, which already carries your car's weight, gearing and drag.
- A band of plus or minus 20% around the result.
No hills, headwinds, roof racks or stop-start driving are modelled. Each of those increases what you use.
Weight is only half the story
At 90km/h, pushing air aside costs more than hauling the mass for most full-height vans. That is why two vans of the same weight can cost different amounts to tow, and why a lower travelling roof line is worth more at highway speed than it looks parked.