Fuel Consumption Simpson Desert & Outback Australia
In this post we take you through our fuel consumption in the Simpson Desert and Outback Australia for the trip we recently completed. This was one of the key factors we needed to consider when planning for this trip to ensure we had sufficient fuel between destinations. We show you what we estimated this to be verse reality.
Knowing Your 4WD
Before we get into how we went with our fuel consumption in the Simpson Desert we thought it would be good to show you how we estimated what this would be and the range of our Cruiser.
What's Your 4WD's Consumption?
Fortunately our 4WD, 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser, has a fairly large stock fuel tank at 130 litres. It does need a fairly big tank due to it’s below par fuel consumption with that big V8 up front. For our trip fuel calculations we had a pretty good gauge on our 4WD’s fuel consumption. We ensure that we do fuel consumption calculations for every trip, be it highway driving, going to Fraser Island or driving tracks at Glass House Mountains. This ensures that we have a pretty good indication of what we should average in litres per 100 kms in different driving conditions and whether or not we are towing.
During normal driving conditions, we average around 13-14 litres of diesel per 100 kms. In thick sand, off road, lots of low range driving and towing we average anywhere from 17 to 20 litres per 100 kms. This is super easy to calculate, simply reset your trip odometer once you have filled up with fuel for your trip. When you have finished your trip, go to a servo and full up your tank. If you did say 750 kms and you had to add 90 litres of fuel to fill up your tank, your fuel consumption was 12 litres per 100 kms (Litres / Total KMs x 100 | 90 / 750 x 100). We do this calculation every time we fill up to make sure we keep on top of this.
What's Your 4WD's Range?
Once you have a good gauge on your 4WD’s fuel consumption in different conditions, this will give you a good indication of your range. Ideally on any trip you would like to have a range of 1,000 kms as this will ensure you are never going to have an issue finding fuel. However this is not always necessary and will depend on the trip that you are doing. Being across this is super important as this will allow you to make good decisions when on the road while watching that fuel needle slowly dropping on the dash, not so slow in the 76.
Now that you know what your consumption is in different conditions, calculating your range is super easy. If your consumption is say 17 litres per 100 kms and you have 130 litres of fuel, then your range is approximately 764 kms (Total Fuel / Consumption per 100kms x 100 | 130/17 x 100). Remembering though that the last 5 to 10 litres of fuel is not going to do too much in your tank while it is moving around so it is probably closer to 700 kms to be safe.
When planning for the Simpson Desert trip, we knew we would be required to get through lots of sand dunes and many rough and corrugated roads that would generally be slow going. When planning this trip, we worked out that if we averaged 20 litres per 100 kms our range would be 650 kms. We also did a calculation on a worst-case scenario at 22 litres per 100 kms. This reduced our range from 650 kms down to 590 kms. However we hoped that we would be somewhere closer to 17 litres per 100 kms at a range of 764 kms. This is with the stock 130 litre tank and carrying no additional fuel.
Understand your Fuel Light
One final thing on understanding the fuel consumption of your 4WD, is knowing how many litres of fuel remain when your fuel light comes on. This might seem like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people are not completely certain when you ask them about this. We know from testing this out many times, that when the fuel light comes on in our Cruiser, we have exactly 30 litres of fuel remaining in the tank. We have checked this many times by simply filling up as soon as the light comes on, and it is always the same figure. Knowing this figure gives you a little more certainty while driving as you can get a pretty good indication on what your range is until you run out. We will show you an example below when this wa super useful between Birsdville and Coober Pedy.
Planned Route
Once you have a good idea on your consumption and range then you need to have a good idea on your planned route. This will give you a good indication of what your distances are between fuel stops. Using apps like Hema Explorer can be really good here as you can determine where you can and can’t get fuel.
For our Simpson Desert trip, the longest section between fuel stops was 500-600 kms. If we decided to go from Birdsville to Mount Dare this would have been closer to 500 kms but if we by passed Mount Dare and continued to Oodnadatta this would be around 600 kms. From the calculations above, you can see that if we averaged 17 litres we would have sufficient range but if we were closer to the 20 litres per 100 kms then we would be close to the 600 kms at a 650 km range.
As a result, we decided to only carry an additional 20 litres of diesel. Rick, who travelled with us was carrying 40 litres in the same 4WD, so we knew we had a little extra as backup. If something unforeseen happened, we know it wouldn’t be a great distance to the next fuel stop so one of the 4WDs would have used all the fuel to get assistance. If we had a jerry can holder on our rear bar (which we are working on currently), we probably would have carried 40 litres of diesel. If we had done this trip on our own, we would have carried 40 litres for that added security.
Our Actual Fuel Consumption
Now after the fact we can show you what our actual fuel consumption was on this trip and how this stacked up against our initial plans.
Simpson Desert: Birsdville to Coober Pedy
Between Birdsville and Coober Pedy we ended up averaging 17.5 litres per 100 kms. This was through the Simpson Desert via the QAA Line, into the Northern Territory briefly, down to the French Line, then to Dalhousie Springs and then to Coober Pedy via Oodnadatta.
17.5 litres / 100 kms | Simpson Desert Fuel Economy
We decided on filling up at Coober Pedy when we had initially planned to fill up at Oodnadatta. When we arrived at Oodnadatta we still had just under a quarter of a tank of fuel so we decided to push on. Just under 100 kms out of Coober Pedy the fuel light came on so we knew we had 30 litres of fuel remaining in the tank. As per our comments earlier, knowing how many litres of fuel you have remaining in the tank when the fuel light comes on is great in this circumstance. As we had approximately 100 kms to go to get to Coober Pedy when the light came on, we knew we had a range of approximately 200 kms based on the gravel road we were driving on. We made it to Coober Pedy with 14.5 litres left in the tank – this confirms our caclulation was 100% correct as we only used 15 litres to do the 100 kms, so we had a 200 km range when the light came on. We had added the 20 litre jerry can to our tank midway through the Simpson Desert. So we used a total of 135.51 litres of fuel and covered approximately 770 kms.
135.5 litres of fuel | 770 kms
Outback Total Fuel Consumption
Our total fuel consumption for this entire trip was 14.30 litres per 100 kms including the Simpson Desert. This was using a total of 680 litres covering 4,750 kms.
14.30 litres / 100 kms | Total Fuel Economy
680 litres of fuel | 4,750 kms
Excluding the Simpson Desert to Coober Pedy part of our trip, our fuel consumption was far better and closer to normal. Here we averaged 13.7 litres per 100 kms. This was using a total of 544 litres covering 3,980 kms.
13.70 litres / 100 kms | Non Desert Fuel Economy
544 litres of fuel | 3,980 kms
Remembering here the type of 4WD we drive, but this should give you an idea of the fuel consumption differences between the desert and other road conditions.
KMs Travelled
The below shows you the distances we travelled each day for a total of approximately 4,750 kms.
1. Sunshine Coast – Charleville: 800 kms
2. Charleville – Windorah: 450 kms
3. Windorah – QAA Line: 430 kms
4. QAA Line – French Line: 120 kms
5. French Line: 100 kms
6. French Line – Dalhousie Springs: 150 kms
7. Dalhousie Springs – Coober Pedy: 350 kms
8. Coober Pedy – Lyndhurst: 500 kms
9. Lyndhurst – Innamincka: 400 kms
10. Innamincka – Bollon: 750 kms
11. Bollon – Toowoomba: 500 kms
12. Toowoomba – Sunshine Coast: 200 kms
4,750 kms – Total Distance Travelled
Cost of Fuel
We found that the further away from Brisbane / Toowoomba we got, the cheaper was the fuel, until after Charleville. The most expensive fuel on this entire trip was at Innamincka at $1.90 per litre. The below summarises the cost of fuel between the 17/07/20 and the 27/07/20.
1. Toowoomba – $1.22
2. Charleville – $1.18
3. Windorah – $1.50
4. Birdsville – $1.75
5. Coober Pedy – $1.29
6. Lyndhurst – $1.60
7. Innamincka – $1.90
8. Thargomindah – $1.52
9. Moonie – $1.14
We used a total of 680 litres of fuel for a total cost of $956.64 at an average cost of $1.41 per litre.
$956.64 – Total Cost of Fuel
$1.41 – Average cost per litre
$1.90 – Most Expensive Fuel at Innamincka
Hopefully this post on our fuel consumption in the Simpson Desert and Outback Australia gives you a good indication of what to expect when doing a similar trip. Outside of the desert, your fuel consumption will only be slightly above normal. Just make sure you have a really good understanding of the range of your 4WD in different conditions. Then make sure you have a good idea on your planned route and where you will be able to fill up. Once you know this and are fairly certain on your longest distance between fuel stops, you can comfortably determine how much extra fuel you need to carry.
If you would like to read more posts about planning for a similar trip to the Simpson Desert or Outback Australia, check out these posts here.
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We hope you have enjoyed this post on our fuel consumption in the Simpson Desert and Outback Australia. Thanks for reading legends.
The thoughts of Peter.
13/10/2020 @ 7:17 PM
Really appreciate the detailed information on the fuel usage and how the calculations are done. Although for an older hand, this knowledge and preparation may be just regular activity for remote trips; for those who may be just starting out on such journeys, this type of presentation is pure gold.
The take-away message should be – always ere on the side of caution.
13/10/2020 @ 7:24 PM
G’day Alan,
Thanks for the feedback mate, really appreciate it. You are exactly right. Knowing your 4WD is paramount. Driving the V8, we are always calculating at every fill what the consumption is, always trying to beat it, haha. And yeah you are 100% correct, you should always be on the conservative side, never know what might happen. We had to limit the number of attempts up Big Red and other steep dunes on the French Line just to be on the safe side.
Thanks for reading mate.
Cheers,
Peter