How can a car dealer describe fuel type and consumption in structured data?

Definition: Schema.org's Vehicle type describes a device designed or used to transport people or cargo. A dealer describes its suitable fuel with fuelType and consumption with fuelConsumption, using a QuantitativeValue object to express the measured amount and unit.

Key facts

• As of 17 October 2026, Schema.org's Vehicle definition assigns fuelConsumption a QuantitativeValue value and recommends unitText for units such as L/100 km.
• Schema.org's Car definition places Car beneath Vehicle and lists the inherited fuelType and fuelConsumption properties.
• Schema.org defines QuantitativeValue as a point value or interval, with value for an amount and minValue and maxValue for lower and upper bounds.

Where does the fuel type belong?

In Schema.org's Vehicle documentation, fuelType describes fuel suitable for the vehicle's engine or engines. It accepts text labels and URLs, among its supported value types. For a vehicle with a single engine, the documentation explicitly permits attaching fuelType directly to the vehicle.

The same documentation defines vehicleEngine as information about the engine or engines, expressed through EngineSpecification. That provides an engine object on which fuel information can be described. Fuel suitability and a measured consumption amount therefore occupy separate properties: fuelType accepts a label or identified value, while fuelConsumption expects a measurement object.

How are consumption and its unit encoded?

Schema.org's Vehicle definition describes fuelConsumption as fuel consumed over a distance or duration. It gives 8 liters per 100 km as an example and recommends unitText: "L/100 km", explaining that no standard unit code exists for this unit.

The following JSON-LD fragment, a JSON representation of structured data, illustrates a petrol car using that documented example amount. It combines documentation examples for illustration. The Car page includes a petrol engine in its examples.

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Car",
  "fuelType": "Petrol",
  "fuelConsumption": {
    "@type": "QuantitativeValue",
    "value": 8,
    "unitText": "L/100 km"
  }
}

The QuantitativeValue definition recommends a numeric value and a period for a decimal point. Its unitCode property accepts a UN/CEFACT Common Code or a URL; unitText supplies a textual unit when a standard code is unavailable. For a published interval, minValue and maxValue hold its lower and upper bounds.

The Vehicle documentation also defines fuelEfficiency as distance traveled per unit of fuel, such as miles per gallon or kilometers per liter. It describes consumption and efficiency as reciprocal forms. For driving conditions, it suggests valueReference, a secondary value adding context to a measurement, and gives driving speed and city traffic as examples.

What should be checked against the listing?

As of 17 October 2026, Google's structured data guidelines recommend JSON-LD and require marked content to be visible to readers. Applied to a dealer listing, the fuel label, consumption amount and unit in the markup should match the displayed vehicle details. Google also requires current information and prohibits misleading content.

A measurement review checks the property as well as the unit: L/100 km belongs with fuelConsumption; distance per fuel unit belongs with fuelEfficiency, following Schema.org's Vehicle definitions.

Related terms

• Structured data
• JSON-LD
• How do unitCode and unitText describe a measured value?
• How can a used-car dealer mark mileage and the vehicle identification number?

FAQ

Can I put the amount and unit in one text string?

Schema.org's Vehicle definition expects fuelConsumption to contain QuantitativeValue. You can put the amount in value and the unit in unitText, as in the example above.

How can I retain a city-traffic qualifier?

The same Vehicle documentation recommends valueReference for usage conditions such as city traffic. The QuantitativeValue definition allows text among its valueReference values.

Sources

1. Schema.org, "Vehicle", undated
2. Schema.org, "Car", undated
3. Schema.org, "QuantitativeValue", undated
4. Google Search Central, "General structured data guidelines", 10 July 2026

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