Trip Fuel Cost Calculator

Work out how much fuel your trip will use and what it will cost, in the units and currency you use every day.

Distance unit
Fuel economy unit
$per liter

This is an estimated default price. Automatic price detection only applies to visitors in the United States. Everyone else can select their own currency and enter a local price below for an accurate result.

Currency
Trip type
Timeframe

Your results

Total fuel needed for this trip
7.00 liters
Total cost for this trip
$10.50
Total distance for this trip
100.0 kilometers

Fuel economy in every unit

L/100km
7.0
MPG US
33.6
MPG UK
40.4
km/L
14.3

How the calculator works

Enter your trip distance, your vehicle's fuel economy, and the price you pay per unit of fuel. Behind the scenes everything converts to a common unit, so the calculator works the same whether you think in liters per 100 kilometers, miles per gallon, or kilometers per liter, and whichever currency you use. Results update instantly as you type, with a full breakdown showing your fuel economy converted across every supported unit at once.

The math itself is simple once everything is in the same units: fuel needed equals distance divided by fuel economy, and total cost equals fuel needed multiplied by price per unit. The calculator's job is handling the conversion between four different fuel economy units and two different distance units so you never have to do that arithmetic by hand, and so a US MPG rating, a UK MPG rating, and a L/100km rating all produce the same underlying answer once normalized.

Units and currencies supported

Distance can be entered in kilometers or miles. Fuel economy can be entered as L/100km, MPG US, MPG UK, or km/L, the four units most commonly used worldwide, and every result includes a breakdown showing your fuel economy converted into all four at once, useful for comparing a US market car's MPG rating against a European or UK figure quoted in a different unit.

Five currency symbols are available: US dollar, British pound, euro, Pakistani rupee, and Indian rupee. The currency selector changes only the symbol shown next to your result, not the number itself, since the calculator has no way to know live exchange rates and does not attempt to convert between currencies. Enter the fuel price exactly as you pay it in your own currency and the total cost will be correct in that currency.

Trip type and timeframe

Choose one way or round trip depending on whether you are calculating a single leg or a there and back journey; round trip simply doubles the entered distance before calculating fuel and cost. The timeframe selector then projects that trip out to a daily, monthly, or yearly total, on the assumption that you make the same trip once every day of that period, which is useful for estimating a regular commute but should be adjusted manually if your actual trip frequency is different.

Getting the most accurate result

A manufacturer or EPA fuel economy rating is measured in a lab under standardized conditions and typically runs a bit optimistic compared to everyday driving, especially in cold weather, heavy traffic, or with a lot of short trips that never let the engine reach an efficient operating temperature. For a number that reflects your actual driving, use the tank-fill method: fill up completely, reset your trip odometer, drive until you need fuel again, then divide the miles or kilometers driven by however much fuel it took to refill. That figure accounts for your own driving style and conditions far better than a factory rating or a dashboard estimate, which commonly reads 5 to 15% more optimistic than what a tank-fill calculation shows.

Popular vehicles

See fuel cost, EPA fuel economy, and annual cost estimates for specific vehicles, each with a calculator prefilled to that vehicle's own numbers.

Browse all tracked vehicles

Popular routes

Real driving distance and a fuel cost breakdown by vehicle type for specific city to city trips, from short regional hops to cross country drives.

Browse all routes

Guides

Background reading on how EPA fuel economy ratings are actually measured, and what to know when comparing a gas vehicle to an EV.

Read the guides

Frequently asked questions

Fuel cost comes from three numbers: distance, fuel economy, and price per unit of fuel. Divide your distance by your vehicle's fuel economy to get the amount of fuel needed, then multiply that by the price per unit. This calculator does that math for you and instantly converts between distance, fuel economy, and currency units so you never have to convert by hand.

MPG US, MPG UK, L/100km, and km/L are the four units used around the world, and they are not simple multiples of each other because a US gallon (3.785 liters) and a UK gallon (4.546 liters) are different sizes. A car rated at 40 MPG UK is only about 33 MPG US for that reason. Enter your number in whichever unit your vehicle's manual or window sticker uses and the calculator handles the conversion.

No. The currency selector only changes which symbol is shown next to your result; it does not look up exchange rates or convert your entered price. Enter the fuel price exactly as you pay it locally and pick the matching symbol for display, and the cost figure will be correct in your own currency.

Selecting round trip simply doubles the one-way distance before running the fuel and cost calculation, on the assumption you drive the same route back. If your return trip is a different distance, run the calculator twice, once for each leg, and add the two costs together.

The daily, monthly, and yearly timeframes project your entered trip as if you make it once every day of that period, since that is the only frequency the calculator can know without more input. If you only make this trip occasionally, use the single trip result instead and multiply it by how often you actually drive it.

The calculator is only as accurate as the fuel economy and price you enter. A manufacturer or EPA fuel economy rating is measured under standardized lab conditions and commonly runs higher than real-world results, especially with aggressive driving, cold weather, or a lot of short trips. For the most accurate result, use your own recently measured fuel economy from the tank-fill method rather than the factory rating, and update the fuel price to what you actually pay locally.

Fill your tank completely and reset your trip odometer, drive normally until you need fuel again, then fill up again and note how many gallons or liters it took. Dividing the distance driven by the fuel used gives a real-world figure that accounts for your own driving style, terrain, and climate far better than a dashboard estimate, which commonly reads 5 to 15% more optimistic than actual results.