Is there a metric equivalent of ‘mileage’, other than ‘distance’ (in regards to distance travelled, such as on a business reimbursement form), or ‘kilometers per liter’ (as in fuel efficiency)?
Well, I was born in the USA, so I may not be the best to answer this, however I’ve spent some time in Europe and currently reside in Japan, so I’ll chip in my 2 yen…
Your fuel efficiency question is easy: Kilometers per liter is standard form. I’ve heard that plenty of times.
As far as your ‘distance travelled’ portion, I’m afraid I’m at a loss. Many of us ex-pats tend to use the term klicks when referring to distance, however I’m not sure I’d put that on a business form.
I’d probabally guess to say, X kilometers travelled, however I’m not sure that’s not what you were looking for.
Anyone else?
>> Kilometers per liter is standard form. I’ve heard that plenty of times
Where did you hear that? I have always heard liters per 100 Km.
Kilometers per liter is indeed the standard unit of fuel efficiency in Japan. I believe Europeans often use liters per 100 km.
My 1999 Jeep Cherokee’s economy meter reads in L/100km in metric mode.
Good answers, MarkyDeSade, but I’m not sure either of them answers the question. “Kilometers per liter” is the equivalent of “miles per gallon”, not of “milage”. For context, in the U.S., one might ask another “What milage does your car get?”, to which the answer might be “Thirty miles per gallon.”. The metric equivalent to that answer might be “Twelve kilometers per liter”, but what would be the equivalent question?
IS there a general metric term? We (in the US) often use mileage somewhat generically as in “I’ve put in a lot of mileage on my new bike” or “these running shoes have seen plenty of mileage”. How would you say something like these examples in say Britain? Or is this just a peculiarly American usage?
I agree with Chronos - “kilometers per liter” is not the answer. I think the answer is “economy.” We in the US would say “what kind of mileage does that car get?”, and in other places they would say “what kind of economy does that car get?”
That would be the equivalent word I think, but I’m very unsure about how often the question would be phrased that way. Would it be more common to ask “How many liters per 100 km?”
The term “mileage” works well enough, I’ve found. Even if you’re travelling in kilometers.
An employer for whom I used to work had “mileage” on the expense forms we used, even though it was understood that distances reported on the forms were to be in kilometers. It was a little odd to see the following on the form, but it was completely understandable:
Mileage: _____ km
As for fuel efficiency (that is, the “what kind of mileage does your car get?” kind of question), the car dealers here always report it as L/100 km in their advertising.
When you grew up (as I did) in a time where fuel efficiency was always advertised in miles per gallon, trying to wrap your head around the change to liters-per-100-kilometers is still confusing. It is for me, anyway; it seems a backwards way to express the idea. With L/100 km, the lower the number is, the more efficient the car is; unlike MPG where higher numbers indicate better efficiency.
CurtC’s question is a good one.
Curt, I’ve never heard the term “economy” used as you describe. Nor do people ask, “How many liters per 100 kilometers?” Instead, “mileage” remains the term to use: “What kind of mileage does your car get?”
The answer would come back; something like: “Six-point-three liters per hundred kilometers.”
It seems that at least here in officially-metric Canada, the term “mileage” no longer refers to miles, but remains a handy term to use. Its meaning (that is, as a term that covers both distance and fuel economy) is widely understood, and it’s a lot easier than saying “kilometrage,” which is what some were predicting we’d have to say when we changed over to metric.
I have heard and used fuel economy'' in the question. Though it is a bit unwieldy. So the simpler phrasing is how is she on gas?’’
Yeah, and what’s the metric equivalent of “footage”?
(Just kidding.)
The correct word in English is “consumption” and the correct phrasing of the question would be “What is your car’s [fuel] consumption?” or, alternatively, “how much [gas] does your car consume [per 100 km]”?
This PDF document illustrates how the consumption of European cars has evolved over the years and uses the expression “specific consumption” which has several definitions depending on context. It can be fuel (by weight or volume) per 100 km (used for cars & trucks) or it can be fuel (by weight or volume) per Kwh (used for stationary motors, boats & ships, locomotives, etc).
Don’t like that, but “metrage” feels kind of nice on my tongue. Though I doubt it will catch on.
I’ve had the same experience as Spoons, also in Canada. Even though we use metric, the term “mileage” is still used. My employer pays mileage at 38¢ / kilometre.
Mileage is the term used here. In fact in the UK and Ireland, most people still use miles per gallon to express fuel efficiency, although our gallon is larger. This includes car ads. I guess old habits die hard.
In the UK, distances, speed limits and speedometers are all in miles or mph, but petrol (gas) is sold in litres. Kilometres are not widely used in the UK, so I suppose mpg makes sense, although I would suspect that a lot of younger people wouldn’t know how much a gallon is.
In Ireland, distances are posted in km, but speed limits, speedos are in mph… crazy. We are moving fully metric next year.
Anyway, getting back to the OP, we still use the word mileage, and even if we go fully metric we’ll probably still use it. Why not?
Yep, in Australia you might hear people use the term “consumption”, but just as commonly people refer to “mileage”, even though the measure they will use is “litres per 100km”.
Well, Alta Vista gives me this translation into Spanish, which, well, may or may not be helpful. Bolding mine:
Let’s no focus on the less than perfect translation, but the word “kilometerage” strikes me as, well, awkward to say the least. Well, some Google’ing indicates it’s a real Spanish word. I chose this since, well, Mexico has no real memory of English measurements, and I happen to know a little bit of it.
So how about English? this Google search shows a lot of use of “kilometerage” in English – right or wrong. I don’t think I’d say it.