How much AdBlue® do I need to add to my car?

You car’s need for AdBlue®, as with fuel, depends not only on the vehicle concerned, but also on a number of factors: the category of vehicle, its engine, driving style and traffic conditions. To help you determine your vehicle’s AdBlue® consumption, find out how much liquid is consumed on average by a car, many examples of car models and their AdBlue® consumption, and a simple method for calculating your car’s AdBlue® needs.

How much AdBlue® does a car use?

The average consumption of AdBlue® by a car is mainly linked to the distance you drive each year, and the date on which the vehicle in question was marketed :

• for a passenger car put on the market before 2018, the average consumption of AdBlue® is between 0.5 and 2 litres / 1,000 km (621 miles) driven
• for a passenger car sold after 2018, due to the tightening of pollution standards, AdBlue® consumption is more likely to be between 1 and 3 litres every 1,000 km.

It is likely that the European standards imposed on vehicle manufacturers will be even more drastic in the future, which would further increase the consumption of AdBlue® to compensate for nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel.

AdBlue®: For which diesel car?

Examples of AdBlue® consumption depending on the diesel vehicle concerned

Here are some examples of diesel vehicles with their average AdBlue® consumption (source: GreenChem):

Audi

• Audi A4 2.0 or 3.0 TDI: approximately 1 to 1.8 litres of AdBlue® consumed every 1,000 km
• Audi A5 2.0 and 3.0 TDI: 1.9 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Audi A6 2.0 and 3.0 TDI: 1.2 litres / 1000 km
• Audi A7 3.0 TDI or BiTDI: 1.2 to 1.6 litres / 1000 km
• Audi A8 3.0 or 4.2 TDI clean diesel: 2.4 litres / 1000 km
• Audi Q3 2.0 TDI: 0.9 to 1.8 litres / 1000 km
• Audi Q5 2.0 TDI: 1.4 to 1.6 litres / 1000 km
• Audi Q7 3.0 TDI: 1.4 litres / 1000 km

BMW

• BMW 5 Series (all engines): approximately 1.3 litres of AdBlue® consumed every 1000 km
• BMW 7 Series (730d TwinPower Turbo 265k): 1.2 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• BMW X5 (sDrive25d TwinPower Turbo 231k): 0.9 litres / 1000 km
• BMW X5 (M50d TwinPower Turbo 381k): 1.5 litres / 1000 km
• BMW X6 (all diesel engines): 0.8 litres / 1000 km

Citroën

• Citroën C3 1.6 BlueHDI: 0.8 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Citroën C3 Picasso 1.6 BlueHDI: 0.8 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Citroën C4 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Citroën C4 Cactus 1.6 BlueHDI : 1 litre / 1000 km
• Citroën C4 Picasso 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 1 litre / 1000 km
• Citroën C4 Grand Picasso BlueHDI 1.6 or 2.0: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Citroën C5 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km

DS

• DS 3 BlueHDI 1.6: 1.4 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• DS 4 BlueHDI 1.6 or 2.0: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• DS 5 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km

Jaguar

• Jaguar XE 2.0 I4D: 1.2 to 1.6 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Jaguar XF 2.0 ID4 or 3.0 V6: 1.4 litres / 1000 km
• Jaguar XJ 3.0 V6: 1.2 litres / 1000 km

Land Rover

• Land Rover Discovery 3.0 SDV6 or TDV6: 2 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Land Rover Range Rover 3.0: 0.9 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Land Rover Range Rover 4.4 LR-SDV8: 1.8 litres / 1000 km
• Land Rover Range Rover Evoque TD4 150 to 180: 1.5 litres / 1000 km

Mercedes

• Mercedes C-Class 180 to 300: 2.7 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Mercedes E-Class 220 to 350: 2.5 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Mercedes CLS 2.2 or 3.0: 2.4 litres / 1000 km
• Mercedes GLC / GLE Coupé 220: 2.7 litres / 1000 km
• Mercedes S-Class 350: 2.7 litres / 1000 km
• Mercedes Sprinter (all CDI diesel engines): 1.6 to 1.8 litres / 1000 km
• Mercedes Vito (all CDI diesel engines): 2.2 litres / 1000 km

Opel

• Opel Insigna 1.6 CDTI Ecotec: 0.8 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Opel Zafira 1.6 or 2.0 CDTI: 0.6 litre / 1000 km

Peugeot

• Peugeot 208 1.6 BlueHDI: 0.8 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Peugeot 308 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Peugeot 508 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Peugeot 2008 1.6 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Peugeot 3008 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Peugeot 5008 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Peugeot Partner Tepee 1.6 BlueHDI: 0.8 litre / 1000 km
• Peugeot Traveller 1.6 or 2.0 BlueHDI: 1.2 litres / 1000 km

Peugeot Urea or AdBlue® warning light: How do I switch it off?

Renault

• Renault Trafic (all DCI diesel engines): 1.8 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km

Toyota

• Toyota Land Cruiser (all diesel engines): 1.4 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km

Skoda

• Skoda Superb 1.6 or 2.0 TDI SCR: 1.2 to 2 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Skoda Yeti 2.0 TDI SCR: 0.8 to 1.4 litres / 1000 km

Volkswagen

• Volkswagen Passat 1.6 or 2.0 TDI BlueMotion: 1.9 litres of AdBlue® / 1000 km
• Volkswagen Sharan 2.0 TDI BlueMotion: 1.5 to 1.7 litres / 1000 km
• Volkswagen Tiguan 2.0 TDI SCR BlueMotion: 1.8 litres / 1000 km
• Volkswagen Touareg 3.0 TDI BlueMotion: 2 litres / 1000 km
• Volkswagen Touran 1.6 or 2.0 TDI BlueMotion: 1.6 to 1.9 litres / 1000 km
• Volkswagen Transporter 2.0 TDI BMT: 1.2 to 1.4 litres / 1000 km.

How do I calculate my AdBlue® needs?

The calculation of a vehicle’s AdBlue® needs enables you to estimate how often you need to fill your AdBlue® tank as a function of the number of times you fill up with fuel. To carry out such a calculation, you will need to collect various data about the vehicle from your dealer (or from the vehicle maintenance guide): volume of the AdBlue and diesel tanks, AdBlue® consumption per 100 litres of diesel, and diesel consumption per 100 km (62 miles).

Example: calculation data for a Peugeot 208 BlueHDI

Have you managed to put all these elements together? Let’s put it into practice: let’s take the example of a Peugeot 208 BlueHDI with the following characteristics:

• AdBlue® tank capacity: 17 litres
• diesel tank capacity: 60 litres
• AdBlue® consumption: 6 litres / 100 litres of diesel used
• diesel consumption: 5 litres / 100 km (62 miles) driven.

Formulas for assessing AdBlue® consumption

We will first define the quantity of diesel that must be consumed to empty the AdBlue® tank with the following calculation:

AdBlue® tank capacity / AdBlue® consumption * 100 litres of diesel = 17/6 * 100 = 283 litres of diesel.

We’ll then divide this result by the volume of the diesel tank, to get the filling frequency of your AdBlue® tank: 283/60 = 4.7. In other words, every 5 fill-ups of diesel or so, your AdBlue® tank will run dry and will therefore need to be refilled.

If you prefer to think in terms of kilometres (or distance travelled) before you run out of AdBlue®, this gives :

Fuel tank capacity / fuel consumption * 100 km * 5 fill-ups = 60/5 * 100 * 5 = 6000 km.

This means that you’ll need to refill your AdBlue® tank every 6,000 km (3,728 miles).

Of course, this is a theoretical view, as your AdBlue® consumption can be affected by a number of parameters, which we’ll look at below. Furthermore, we strongly advise you to fill up with AdBlue as soon as the indicator appears on your dashboard (normally 2400 km before the shortage) to avoid running out of fuel.

Over-consumption of AdBlue®: how can you avoid it?

Do you have the impression that you are over-consuming AdBlue®? If you need to refill your AdBlue® tank too often, there are several possible reasons: your driving style may be too “sporty”, your tyre pressure may be inappropriate, or your air conditioning level may be excessive.

You’ve got it: you can reduce your AdBlue® consumption by adopting a number of reflexes:

1. Drive more “economically”: start off smoothly, and try to adopt a smoother driving style, avoiding a sequence of acceleration and braking phases (it’s better to downshift gradually than brake suddenly)
2. Check tyre pressure: if your tyres are under-inflated or over-inflated, you will naturally use more fuel, and therefore more AdBlue®.
3. Avoid using too much air conditioning: pushing the air conditioning too high can greatly increase AdBlue® consumption.

Just as traffic conditions have an impact on driving style, they also affect AdBlue® consumption: “accordion” traffic will tend to make you consume more than “normal” traffic.