Vehicle Idling Cost Calculator

Work out vehicle idling cost instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Vehicle Idling Cost Calculator

Idling burns 2-4 litres an hour in a truck and produces no useful work at all. Ninety minutes a day across twelve vehicles is 10,800 litres a year — enough to fund telematics and driver coaching many times over.

Formula

Idling cost

litres = idle hours x idle rate x working days x vehicles; cost = litres x fuel price

Worked example

With the default values below, Vehicle Idling Cost Calculator returns Annual fleet idling cost of $16,740.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Idling hours per day: 1.5 h/day
Idle fuel consumption: 2.4 L/h
Fuel price: 1.55
Vehicles in the fleet: 12 vehicles

Results

Annual fleet idling cost: $16,740.00
Per vehicle per year: $1,395.00
Fuel wasted annually: 10,800 L
CO2 from idling: 28,944 kg

Step by step

1Values used
2Idling cost
3Annual fleet idling cost= 16,740.00
4Per vehicle per year= 1,395.00
5Fuel wasted annually= 10,800 L
6CO2 from idling= 28,944 kg

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is idling needed to warm the engine?

Not on a modern engine. Driving gently warms it faster, and prolonged idling causes bore glazing and diesel particulate filter problems.

What about cab heating or refrigeration?

That is a genuine need, but auxiliary heaters and battery-powered systems do the job for a fraction of the fuel an idling main engine uses.