Fuel Cost Calculator

Values

Quick Fill

Mode

Currency

Trip Distance

Fuel Economy

Fuel Price

Passengers

Fill in the values and click Calculate to see results

Values

Quick Fill

Mode

Currency

Trip Distance

Fuel Economy

Fuel Price

Passengers

Fill in the values and click Calculate to see results

Frequently Asked Questions

Multiply your trip distance by your fuel consumption per kilometre to get the fuel used, then multiply that volume by the fuel price per litre (or per gallon). For example, 500 km at 7 L/100km uses 35 L, and at $1.50 per litre that is $52.50. Enter distance, fuel economy, and price in this calculator and it does the rest, including converting between km and miles and between litres and gallons.

Divide the total fuel cost by the distance in miles. For a US vehicle a direct shortcut is to divide the price per US gallon by the miles per gallon: $3.50 per gallon divided by 30 mpg gives $0.117 per mile. This calculator reports cost per km and cost per mile side by side so you do not have to do the division yourself.

Divide 235.2 by the US mpg value. For example, 30 US mpg equals about 7.84 L/100km. If the mpg figure is in imperial (UK) gallons, divide 282.5 instead, because the imperial gallon is larger. The conversion mode on this calculator shows all four fuel economy units at once so you never mix up the two gallons.

MPG (miles per gallon) tells you how far a car travels on one gallon of fuel, so a higher number is better. L/100km (litres per 100 km) tells you how much fuel a car uses to travel 100 km, so a lower number is better. The two are inversely related. MPG is common in the US, Canada, and the UK, while L/100km is standard across Europe and much of Asia.

It varies with your vehicle’s fuel economy and the fuel price. A car doing 30 US mpg at $3.50 per gallon costs about $0.117 per mile in fuel. A more efficient car doing 40 mpg at the same price costs about $0.088 per mile. Use this calculator to find your own figure, since it also accounts for your specific distance and price.

For running cost and fuel consumption, L/100km is the more honest scale because it is linear in fuel used: a drop from 6 to 5 L/100km is a clear 16.7% saving. MPG is inversely related to fuel use, so an improvement from 20 to 30 mpg saves far more than from 40 to 50 mpg. For fair comparisons across the US and Europe, convert both to a common unit, preferably L/100km.

No. A US liquid gallon is 3.785411784 litres, while a UK imperial gallon is 4.54609 litres, about 20% larger. This means a given mpg figure in the UK represents better efficiency than the same number in the US. Always confirm which gallon a quoted mpg refers to before comparing vehicles across these markets.

Enter each car’s distance, fuel economy, and fuel price in the Compare two vehicles mode. The calculator reports the fuel used and fuel cost for each car plus the money saved by the cheaper option. Be sure to use the same distance and price for both unless you are testing a deliberate difference, so the comparison isolates the efficiency difference.

Not proportionally. Because mpg is inverse to fuel use, the savings from each extra mpg shrink as mpg rises. Going from 20 to 30 mpg saves a lot; going from 40 to 50 mpg saves much less, even though both are "10 mpg better." For a true running-cost comparison, use litres per 100 km or the cost per km and cost per mile that this calculator reports.

The calculation is mathematically exact given the numbers you enter, but real-world fuel economy varies with traffic, weather, load, tyre pressure, and driving style, and fuel prices fluctuate. For the most accurate estimate, enter your own measured fuel economy from recent fill-ups rather than the window sticker figure, and use a price slightly above the current pump price.

Multiply the distance by your fuel consumption per kilometre. At 7 L/100km, 500 km uses 500 × 0.07 = 35 litres. In mpg terms, divide the distance in miles by the mpg. The fuel used result in this calculator shows the volume in litres and also as US and UK gallons.

Multiply your one-way distance by two for the round trip, multiply by the number of working days in a month, and estimate the cost for that total distance. A 40 km round trip driven 22 days a month is 880 km; at 7 L/100km and $1.60 per litre that is about $98.60 per month or roughly $1,180 per year. Enter your figures in trip mode to get the exact number.

Multiply the planned route distance by your vehicle’s fuel consumption per kilometre and then by the fuel price. For example, a 1,200 km trip in a 6 L/100km vehicle at $1.40 per litre costs about 72 litres × $1.40 = $100.80. Add a 10% buffer for detours and traffic, then budget that total before you leave.

Cost per km is the total fuel cost divided by the distance in kilometres, and it is the standard running-cost measure in metric markets. At $52.50 over 500 km it is $0.105 per km. It is useful for quoting delivery fees and pricing jobs, and the calculator reports it directly alongside cost per mile.

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