Fuel (2024)

Not to be confused with Hydrogen Fuel.

Fuel consumed by conventional ships consists of hydrogen, which is fed into a ship's Power Plant and fused into helium under high pressure and temperature, thereby generating the energy necessary to run shipboard systems and weapons. When a ship activates its Frame Shift Drive, a large quantity of fuel is consumed all at once at the moment a jump to hyperspace begins, after a brief charging period. Ships can replenish their fuel supply at stations with the Refueling service, or by skimming main sequence stars with a Fuel Scoop. The average price of fuel is roughly 50 CR per metric ton. Prices vary based on location as well as the supply and demand of hydrogen fuel at that location.

Fuel and the commodity Hydrogen Fuel aren't interchangeable: one can't transfer cargo to the Fuel Tank nor vice versa. On the contrary, Fleet Carriers require an alternate fuel, the commodity Tritium, to undertake hyperspace jumps.

Overview

Fuel consumption

A ship consumes fuel continuously in propotion to its power needs any time it is not docked at a station, as it is necessary to power the ship's Thrusters, Sensors, Power Distributor, and Life Support. The pilot can deactivate these and other modules manually to reduce fuel consumption, but this results in reduced ship functionality, and a pilot without a working Life Support module will be forced to draw from the limited oxygen supply of their personal Remlok Suit, which will eventually be exhausted and result in the loss of the ship. During normal operation, a small amount of fuel proportionate to the demands placed on the ship's power plant is drawn continuously. Fuel consumption is constant in normal space and supercruise, with supercruise demanding fuel at a higher rate.

Fuel consumption is displayed on the ship's fuel indicator on the HUD. The number on the indicator shows the current fuel consumption per hour in tonnes. The two bars show remaining fuel; the thin, upper bar is the ship's fuel reserve, which is a small portion of fuel varying in volume by ship model that is set aside to power modules, and the thick, lower bar is the amount of fuel remaining in the ship's Fuel Tank. When the fuel reserve is exhausted, it will automatically replenish itself from the Fuel Tank. A ship's Frame Shift Drive bypasses the reserve and draws directly from the Fuel Tank.

Fuel consumption for a hyperspace jump is determined by the ship's total mass, the class and type of FSD the ship has equipped, and the distance of the jump. Performing multiple shorter jumps consumes less total fuel than one long jump to the same destination. Hyperspace jumps consume large amounts of fuel at once.

Refuelling

There are three methods by which a ship can be refuelled:

• Refuelling at ports - Pilots can pay to refuel their ships at any orbital or surface port with the "Refuel" service. Note that not all ports may have this service available, but a port's list of services can be checked via the System Map.
• Fuel scooping - Ships can be refueled in flight by installing a Fuel Scoop and skimming a Main Sequence star (class O, B, A, F, G, K, and M). While fuel scooping costs nothing, the most efficient Fuel Scoops for larger ships can be expensive.
• Fuel transference - A ship equipped with a Fuel Transfer Limpet Controller can transfer part of its own fuel supply to another ship using limpets.

Running out of fuel

When a ship exhausts its fuel completely, the Power Plant will shut down and the ship will become stranded. At this point, with Life Support deactivated, the pilot will begin drawing on the breathable air in their suit's reservoir; when the pilot runs out of air, they will eject from the ship for Redeployment and their ship will self-destruct.

A pilot cannot save their ship by themselves if they become stranded, but they still have a chance of surviving if they can contact another ship that is equipped to transfer fuel. If the pilot does not have a friend who is available for the task, they can contact groups such as the Fuel Rats and request assistance.

Notes

• Prior to Elite Dangerous version 1.1, fuel prices at ports scaled varied based on the size of the player's current ship for no apparent reason, with players using larger ships having to pay 5,000 CR or more per ton of fuel.