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Fuel Burn per Tonne Calculator

Fuel burn per tonne is a haulage and plant efficiency metric: it divides the fuel consumed by the payload moved over the same window, giving litres of diesel per tonne (L/t).

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How to use this calculator

Enter Values

Enter your values and press Calculate to see results.

Before you rely on this: First-pass guide only. Verify safety-critical or regulated work against the relevant standards, your project requirements and a qualified professional.

How to use this calculator

  1. Enter the total fuel used (litres) and the total material moved (tonnes) over the same period.
  2. Optionally add operating hours to also get the fuel burn rate (L/h) and production rate (t/h).
  3. Optionally add a fuel price ($/L) to convert the burn into a fuel cost per tonne.

How it works

Fuel burn per tonne is a haulage and plant efficiency metric: it divides the fuel consumed by the payload moved over the same window, giving litres of diesel per tonne (L/t). Formula: Fuel burn per tonne = fuel used (L) ÷ material moved (t). Lower is better — it means more tonnes are moved for each litre burned. Because it is a simple ratio, the fuel and tonnes must cover exactly the same trucks, route and period for the figure to be meaningful.

When you supply a fuel price, the tool multiplies burn per tonne by price to give fuel cost per tonne ($/t), a common line item in unit cost of production. When you supply operating hours, it also reports the fuel burn rate (fuel ÷ hours, in L/h) and the production rate (tonnes ÷ hours, in t/h). All figures are indicative planning estimates; real burn varies with haul grade, payload, road condition, idling and machine health, so validate against site data and OEM burn curves.

Worked example

Haul fleet over a shift. A haul-truck fleet burns 4,200 L of diesel moving 38,000 t of ore over a 10 h shift, with diesel at $1.85/L. Fuel burn per tonne = 4,200 ÷ 38,000 = 0.111 L/t. At $1.85/L that is $0.20/t. Over the shift the fleet burns 420.0 L/h and moves 3,800.0 t/h.

Common mistakes

  • Mixing periods — using a shift's fuel against a day's tonnes (or vice versa). Fuel and tonnes must cover the exact same window and equipment.
  • Confusing L/t with L/h or L/100km. Fuel burn per tonne is per unit of material moved, not per hour of running or per distance travelled.
  • Entering bank cubic metres (BCM) or loads instead of tonnes. Convert to tonnes first (use a BCM/LCM/tonnes converter) if your fuel figure is against tonnes moved.

Frequently asked questions

What is a typical fuel burn per tonne for haul trucks?

It varies widely with truck size, haul distance and grade, but open-pit haul fleets often sit somewhere around 0.1 to 0.5 L/t for moderate hauls; steep, long or heavily loaded hauls burn more. Use your own site history as the benchmark rather than a generic number — this tool is for comparing and tracking your fleet's own figures.

Should I include idling and delay fuel?

For a true operating efficiency, count all diesel actually consumed against the tonnes actually moved, including idle and queue time — that is what real fuel cost per tonne reflects. If you want a pure productive-burn figure instead, use only fuel burned while loaded and hauling, and state that assumption when you report it.

Can I use this for a loader, dozer or drill rig?

Yes, as long as you can attribute a fuel quantity and a tonnage to the same machine and period. For loaders and shovels use tonnes loaded; for drills the metric is usually per drilled metre rather than per tonne, so a drill cost/consumption tool is a better fit there.

Related tools

Explore more in Mining, Quarry, Earthworks, Drill & Blast.

Cite this tool

Zerdly. (2026). Fuel Burn per Tonne Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.zerdly.com/tools/fuel-burn-per-tonne-calculator/

Tip: Enter any known values to calculate the remaining results.

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