Aussies keep guzzling fuel

David McCowen
April 26, 2013
The Age

Figures show that despite more fuel efficient cars, we are buying more petrol than we used to.

Despite the rising cost of fuel Aussies are guzzling it at an ever increasing rate.

Australia’s fuel use has increased by 10 billion litres over the past 20 years.

The increase comes despite the fact that the age of the national carpark is coming down, and car makers are building much more fuel-efficient cars.

Unfortunately our greener driving habits have been offset by the fact that there are more cars on the road, increasing congestion and lengthening the daily commute.

Statistics released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest the national fleet has grown by about 6.5 million cars since 1991.

The figures show that average fuel economy, both for petrol passenger cars and the national fleet as a whole, has only decreased by 0.5 L/100km. The survey even showed a very slight increase in average fuel use over the past 10 years, but a spokeswoman for the ABS says that the difference is “statistically insignificant” and that there was no obvious reason for the rise.

The lack of significant statistical progress over 20 years is difficult to explain as new cars are more efficient than their predecessors. The top 10 best selling cars in 2012 had a combined average fuel figure of 8.14L/100km compared to the 8.7L/100km used by the top 10 best sellers in 2002.

The proportional average distance travelled either to work or for business has remains constant at 48 per cent of all kilometres driven, but hours spent idling in metropolitan traffic could be having an effect.

A recent study of congestion in Western Countries found that Sydney’s traffic was worse than that of Rome or Paris, and that traffic caused drivers to spend an extra 92 hours at the wheel each year.

Australia’s population has grown from about 17.3 million to 23 million people since 1991, an increase of 75 per cent. In that time there has been a 60 per cent increase in the number of kilometres travelled nationally, and a 67 per cent increase in fuel use.

Results from 2012 suggest that drivers from the Northern Territory spent more time travelling interstate than others, clocking up twice as many kilometres outside their home state than people from NSW.

Vehicles registered in Queensland racked up more mileage than those from any other state.

We bought more than a million new cars in 2012, with the fuel efficient Mazda3 hatchback proving to be the most popular car. The global downsizing trend has led to a reduction in fuel use in some nations, but that hasn’t been the case in Australia.

The UK Automobile Association says the past five years saw fuel sales at forecourts drop by 3.5 billion litres, and that total fuel sales had dropped by 9.3 per cent.

Edmund King, president of the AA, says that the “greater take-up of diesel cars and smaller petrol vehicles has contributed to this overall decline in UK fuel sales over the long term”.

Then and now: 1991 2002 2012
Number of vehicles: 10.1 million 12.8 million 16.6 million
Kilometres travelled: 150.4 million 192.2 million 232.4 million
Ave distance driven 14,900 kms 15,000 kms 14,000 kms
Litres of fuel used 21,337 million 26,164 million 31,839 million
Petrol car avg. 11.4 L/100km 10.8 L/100km 10.9 L/100km
Total fleet avg. 14.2 L/100km 13.6 L/100km 13.7 L/100