L/100 Km to Mi/L

1 liter per 100 kilometers equals 62.13711922 miles per liter.

How to convert liters per 100 kilometers to miles per liter

Converting liters per 100 kilometers to miles per liter is not a simple multiplication, so use the formula below.

miles per liter = 62.13711922 ÷ liters per 100 kilometers

Example: 10 liters per 100 kilometers = 6.213711922 miles per liter.

Miles per gallon rises as a car gets more efficient, while liters per 100 km falls. The conversion between them is a reciprocal (for US mpg: L/100 km = 235.215 ÷ mpg).

About these units

Liter Per 100 Kilometers (L/100 km)

Metric (SI)Current unit

Fuel used to travel 100 kilometers. The standard fuel-economy unit in Europe, Canada, Australia and China; lower is better.

Where miles per gallon asks how far you go, litres per 100 km asks how much you burn. Consumption is the reciprocal of economy, so it behaves linearly: if two cars each drive 100 km, the one that uses 8 litres instead of 10 saves exactly 2 litres, whatever the starting point. The sources I found do not name an inventor or date for the unit, but it is the standard in much of Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and China.

Lower is better, which surprises people used to mpg. The relationship between the two scales is a reciprocal: for US mpg, L/100 km equals 235.215 divided by mpg. The Smart Fortwo cdi at about 3.4 L/100 km works out to roughly 69 mpg (US), while a full-size SUV in the US averages around 16 mpg on the highway, which is about 14.7 L/100 km. The US EPA introduced gallons per 100 miles, which carries the same logic, to counter the MPG illusion and make comparisons fairer.

1 liter per 100 kilometers = 100 kilometers per liter (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Fuel economy in automobiles; fueleconomy.gov: Learn more about the gasoline label

Mile Per Liter (mi/L)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

Miles traveled on one liter of fuel.

Where cars are sold with distances in miles and fuel in liters, the natural measure of efficiency is miles per liter. It is a hybrid of the two systems, and the sources consulted do not show it as a standard labelling unit. Metric countries normally quote liters per 100 kilometers or kilometers per liter, while the United States uses miles per US gallon and the United Kingdom still quotes miles per imperial gallon.

Converting is straightforward because a mile is defined as exactly 1.609344 kilometers, so one mile per liter equals 1.609344 kilometers per liter. In the other direction, one kilometer per liter is about 0.621 miles per liter. Against gallon-based figures the multiplier is the gallon size: an imperial gallon is 4.54609 liters, so one mile per liter is about 4.546 miles per imperial gallon, and the US gallon of about 3.785 liters gives about 3.785 miles per US gallon. A car that returns 10 miles per liter would therefore cover roughly 45 miles on an imperial gallon, and in the usual metric form it would burn 100 divided by 16.09, or just over 6.2 liters per 100 kilometers.

1 mile per liter = 1.609344 kilometers per liter (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Fuel economy in automobiles; NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8 conversion factors

Related conversions

See all fuel economy units.