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Average Annual Fuel Use by Vehicle Type Print Download

Transit Bus

Class 8 Truck

Refuse Truck

Para. Shuttle

Delivery Truck

School Bus

Light Truck/Van

Car

Motorcycle

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000

GGEs per year

Source:
Federal Highway Administration (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policyinformation/statistics/2016/) Highway Statistics 2016, Table VM-
1.
Gordon, Deborah, Juliet Burdelski, and James S. Cannon. Greening Garbage Trucks: New Technologies for Cleaner Air. Inform, Inc.
2003.
Calculated from statistics found in American Public Transit Association's Public Transportation Fact Book 2017.
(https://www.apta.com/research-technical-resources/transit-statistics/public-transportation-fact-book/)
American School Bus Council (http://www.americanschoolbuscouncil.org/insights/environment/). National School Bus Fuel Data.

This chart shows average annual fuel use (per vehicle) for major vehicle categories in the United States. Measured in gasoline gallon
equivalents (GGEs), representing a quantity of fuel with the same amount of energy contained in a gallon of gasoline. The two factors
affecting the average annual fuel use of a vehicle are the average miles traveled per year (correlative) and the fuel economy of the
vehicle (inversely correlative). Transit buses, which are relatively inefficient because of their stop-and-go drive cycles and heavy loads,
consume more fuel on average than any other vehicle type. Class 8 trucks, which typically travel long distances carrying heavy loads,
use the second-largest amount of fuel. Refuse trucks, like transit buses, are inefficient because of their heavy loads and stop-and-go
drive cycles. The last four vehicle types are owned by individual consumers, and they each use a fraction of the fuel consumed by fleet-
based vehicles, on a per-vehicle basis. See also Average Annual Vehicle Miles Traveled by Major Vehicle Category (/data/10309) and
Average Fuel Economy by Major Vehicle Category (/data/10310).

To view more details, notes, and acronyms, please download the Excel spreadsheet.