Fuel Anxiety Is Real: How to Never Run Out on a Travel Trailer Trip

There's a particular kind of dread that hits you somewhere past the last town, when the fuel gauge starts dipping and the next gas station is still 200 kilometers away. Your eyes flick between the road and the dash. You start doing mental arithmetic. You ease off the accelerator, just a little.

That's fuel anxiety — and if you've felt it while towing a travel trailer through the remote West, you're not alone.

What Is Fuel Anxiety?

Fuel anxiety is the persistent worry about whether you have enough fuel to reach the next service station. And unlike range anxiety in electric vehicles (which gets most of the media attention), fuel anxiety for travel trailer owners is grounded in a very real problem: the country is enormous, and in the wide-open West fuel stops can be genuinely few and far between.

For unladen drivers, it's rarely an issue. Most modern vehicles can cover 435-560 miles on a tank, and most highways have gas stations every 31-62 miles. But hook up a travel trailer and everything changes. Your fuel consumption can jump 30-50% overnight, slashing your effective range by hundreds of kilometers.

It's consistently one of the top concerns raised by first-time tourers — and even experienced travelers respect it. The outback doesn't care about your travel plans.

Why Towing Destroys Your Fuel Range

The physics are straightforward but brutal. A travel trailer is essentially a large, unaerodynamic box that your vehicle has to drag through the air while also hauling an extra 3,300-6,625 lb of weight.

Take a Ford F-150 as an example. Unladen, you might see 21-24 MPG on the highway. Hook up a dual-axle travel trailer and you're looking at 13-15 MPG — sometimes north of 12 MPG in hilly country or headwinds.

That 21-gallon tank that gave you a comfortable 495-mile range? Now it's delivering 280-310 miles at best. And "at best" means flat roads, no wind, and moderate speeds. Throw in the red center's corrugated tracks or a strong westerly, and you could be burning through fuel even faster.

The key factors that increase consumption when towing:

• Aerodynamic drag — your travel trailer presents a massive frontal area to the wind
• Weight — every extra kilogram requires more energy to move and stop
• Terrain — hills that your unladen vehicle barely noticed now demand serious fuel
• Speed — drag increases exponentially with speed; 70 mph burns dramatically more than 55 mph
• tire pressures — underinflated tires create rolling resistance that costs fuel
• Wind — a 20 mph headwind can increase consumption by 15-20%

Rule of thumb: expect 40-60% higher fuel consumption when towing. If you don't know your exact towing figure, assume the worst until you've measured it.

The Outback Reality

Parts of the US have long distances between fuel stops. Here are a few stretches that demand serious fuel planning:

• US Route 50 across Nevada: known as "the Loneliest Road in America". Services cluster in Fallon, Austin, Eureka and Ely, with long empty runs between them.
• The Dalton Highway, Alaska: Coldfoot is effectively the only fuel between Fairbanks and Deadhorse, and it is not guaranteed to be open when you arrive.
• Big Bend country, West Texas: services thin out quickly once you leave the interstate, and opening hours are short.
• Gibb River Road: Not as long, but every stop needs to be planned carefully. Fuel at Mt Barnett and Imintji, and you'd better know their opening hours.

And the reality of remote fuel goes beyond just distance:

• Prices are eye-watering. Expect to pay a steep premium per gallon at remote outposts. A fill-up for a 37-gallon long-range tank is not cheap.
• Opening hours are limited. Many remote gas stations close at 4pm, or don't open on weekends. Arriving at 5pm on a Saturday to find a locked bowser is a genuine risk.
• Payment methods vary. Some remote pumps are unmanned and card-only. Others are cash-preferred. Carry both, and make sure your card works without mobile signal (some EFTPOS machines need it).

Practical Solutions That Actually Work

The good news: fuel anxiety is entirely manageable with proper planning. Here's how experienced tourers handle it.

1. Know Your Actual Towing Fuel Consumption

This is the single most important thing you can do, and it's surprising how many people skip it.

Don't rely on the manufacturer's claimed fuel consumption — those numbers are measured unladen, in laboratory conditions, at sea level. They're essentially useless for towing planning.

Instead, measure it yourself:

1. Fill your tank completely at a gas station
2. Reset your trip meter (or note the odometer)
3. Drive a typical towing day — mixed highway and town, with your travel trailer loaded as it normally would be
4. Fill up again at the next gas station
5. Divide the liters pumped by the distance driven, multiply by 100

Do this at least three or four times across different conditions (flat vs hilly, calm vs windy) to get a reliable average. Most tourers find their towing consumption sits between 12-17 MPG depending on the rig.

Once you know your number, you can calculate your actual towing range: tank size divided by consumption, multiplied by 100. A 21 gal tank at 14 MPG gives you a theoretical range of 290 miles — but you should never plan to use more than 75% of that.

2. Plan Your Fuel Stops Before You Leave

Winging it works on the east coast. It does not work in the outback.

Before you depart, map out every fuel station on your route. For each one, check:

• Opening hours — some close early, some close on weekends, some close for months during the wet season
• Fuel type — not every roadhouse carries diesel or premium unleaded
• Payment methods — card-only, cash-only, or both

Useful resources for fuel stop planning include GasBuddy, RV Life and Campendium. Cross-reference at least two sources — apps can be outdated.

Then calculate the distance between each stop and compare it against your known towing range. Never plan to arrive at a gas station with less than a quarter tank. That buffer accounts for detours, unexpected closures, or consumption running higher than expected due to wind or terrain.

3. Jerry Cans — The Safety Net

Jerry cans are the traditional insurance policy for remote touring, and for good reason. A couple of 5.3-gallon cans can extend your range by 125+ miles — enough to bridge most gaps.

But they come with trade-offs that many travelers overlook:

• Weight adds up fast. A full 5.3 gal jerry can weighs roughly 44 lb (35 lb of fuel plus the can itself). Three cans is 130 lb — that's a meaningful chunk of your payload allowance.
• Use metal cans only. Steel or aluminum jerry cans are the standard. Plastic fuel containers can degrade in UV and heat, and aren't legal for fuel transport in all states.
• Store them properly. Jerry cans belong on a rear bar carrier or in a dedicated external cradle — never inside the vehicle cabin or travel trailer. Fuel vapours in an enclosed space are a serious safety hazard.
• Fuel goes stale. gas starts degrading after about three months. Diesel lasts a bit longer but still needs attention. Add a fuel stabilizer if you're storing cans for extended periods, and rotate your stock regularly.

The smart move: carry enough jerry can capacity to bridge the longest gap on your specific route, not a worst-case "what if" scenario. Over-carrying fuel wastes payload and can push you over your GVWR.

4. Drive Smart to Maximize Range

When range matters, how you drive matters enormously.

• Slow down. The difference between 60 mph and 70 mph can be 10-15% in fuel consumption when towing. On a 310-mile stretch, that's the difference between making it and not.
• Maintain steady speed. Avoid heavy acceleration and braking. Cruise control is your friend on flat highways.
• Check your tire pressures. Underinflated tires increase rolling resistance significantly. Check pressures when cold, and inflate to the correct figures for your load — not just the placard value.
• Remove unnecessary weight. Every 220 lb of extra weight costs roughly 0.4 MPG. If you're heading into a fuel-critical stretch, consider whether you really need everything you're carrying.
• Time your travel. Early morning often means calmer winds. A strong headwind can cost you 2-3 MPG.

5. Upgrade Your Setup

If you're serious about remote touring, there are hardware solutions worth considering:

• Long-range fuel tanks (32-48 gallons) are the gold standard. They replace your factory tank with a larger unit, giving you genuinely extended range without the hassle of jerry cans. A 37 gal tank at 14 MPG gives you over 495 miles of towing range.
• Sub tanks or auxiliary tanks add capacity alongside your main tank. They're a good option when a full tank replacement isn't available for your vehicle.
• Fuel consumption gauges (ScanGauge, UltraGauge) give you real-time consumption data so you can adjust your driving on the fly. Knowing you're currently burning 12 MPG instead of your usual 16 lets you ease off before it's too late.

The Weight Compliance Connection

Here's where fuel planning and weight compliance collide — and where many travelers unknowingly create a new problem while solving the first one.

Adding jerry cans is the obvious response to fuel anxiety. But those cans add weight, and that weight has consequences:

• Three 5.3 gal jerry cans add 130 lb to your payload. If you're already close to your GVWR, that could push you over.
• Fuel weight shifts your balance. Jerry cans on a rear bar move weight behind the rear axle, which can lighten your front end and affect steering. Extra fuel in the travel trailer's trunk shifts your hitch ball mass.
• It's a common compliance trap. Travelers add jerry cans, a generator, recovery gear, and suddenly they're 440 lb over GVWR without realizing it.

The smarter approach is to plan your fuel stops carefully enough that you minimize how many jerry cans you need to carry. One 5.3 gal can as a genuine emergency reserve is often enough if your route is well-planned. That's 44 lb instead of 60 — a much easier figure to accommodate in your payload budget.

How KamperHub Helps

KamperHub's Route Builder includes fuel planning that calculates stops based on your actual vehicle consumption and tank size — not generic estimates. The jerry can configuration models extra fuel capacity while showing you the weight impact on your payload. And if you're pushing into remote territory, the Trip Advisor flags long stretches where fuel planning is critical, so nothing catches you by surprise.

Quick Reference: Fuel Planning Checklist

• Measured my actual towing fuel consumption (MPG)
• Mapped all fuel stops on my route
• Checked opening hours for remote gas stations
• Calculated range between stops (with 25% buffer)
• Jerry can weight factored into payload calculations
• tire pressures checked and correct for load
• Emergency contacts saved (RACQ / NRMA / RAA / RAC)
• Downloaded offline maps (no mobile signal in remote areas)

The Bottom Line

Fuel anxiety doesn't have to control your trip planning. The formula is simple: know your consumption, plan your stops, carry a sensible reserve, and drive efficiently. Do those four things and you can tackle even the country's most remote routes with confidence.

The travelers who run into trouble are almost always the ones who didn't measure their towing consumption, assumed the next gas station would be open, or carried too much "just in case" weight without checking their GVWR.

Plan smart, travel light, and keep that fuel gauge where it belongs — comfortably above the halfway mark.

Safe travels out there.

Useful Resources

• US Department of Energy — Fuel Economy Tips
• GasBuddy — Find Cheap Gas
• AAA — Gas Prices

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KamperHub Team

Helping travelers tow safely and confidently. KamperHub provides tools for trip planning, weight compliance, and adventure management.