Fuel Cost Calculator: Trip Cost from Distance and MPG
Work out the fuel a trip needs and what it costs from the distance, your fuel economy in MPG, L/100 km or km/L and the price you pay. Add a round trip and split the cost.
Enter the distance, fuel economy and fuel price to see the trip cost.
This page does not look up fuel prices: type the price you pay, in any currency. The result is an estimate; real fuel use depends on driving conditions, speed, load and traffic.
About the Fuel Cost Calculator
The Fuel Cost Calculator tells you how much fuel a trip needs and what it costs. Type the distance in kilometres or miles, your car's fuel economy in litres per 100 km, km per litre, US miles per gallon or UK miles per gallon, and the fuel price per litre, per US gallon or per UK gallon. The fuel needed and the trip cost appear straight away. Tick Round trip to double the distance, and type how many people share the car to split the cost into equal shares.
The page does not look up fuel prices. Type the price you see at the pump, in any currency: the result has no currency symbol, so it works for dollars, euros, pounds or rupees alike. The result is an estimate. Real fuel use depends on driving conditions, speed, traffic, the weather, the load in the car and how the car is driven, so a long motorway trip may use less than the official figure and a city trip more.
How to use it
The trip
- Type the one-way distance and pick km or mi.
- Tick Round trip if you will drive back the same way.
- Type the number of people sharing the cost, from 1 to 100.
The car and the fuel
Type the fuel economy from the car's handbook, its trip computer or your own records, and pick its unit. Then type the price and pick whether it is per litre, per US gallon or per UK gallon. The fuel needed is shown in the same volume unit as the price.
The formulas
The distance is converted to kilometres (1 mile is exactly 1.609344 km) and the fuel economy to kilometres per litre, using the same conversions as the fuel economy converter. Then
Litres are converted to the price's unit with 1 US gallon = 3.785411784 L and 1 UK gallon = 4.54609 L. The cost is rounded once to cents, and each share is the cost divided by the number of people, rounded to cents.
Worked examples
- 450 km at 6.5 L/100 km, 1.80 per litre. The trip uses 450 × 6.5 ÷ 100 = 29.25 L, which costs 52.65.
- 300 miles at 40 UK mpg, 1.45 per litre. The car uses 34.10 L, so the trip costs 49.44.
- 500 km at 15 km/L, 100 per litre. The trip uses 33.33 L and costs 3,333.33.
- 300 miles at 30 US mpg, 3.50 per US gallon, there and back, four people. 600 miles use 20.00 US gallons, which cost 70.00, or 17.50 each.
Privacy
Nothing is uploaded; every calculation runs in your browser and never leaves your device.
Related tools
Convert MPG to L/100 km with the Fuel Economy Converter, convert miles and kilometres with the Length Converter, or compare prices per litre and per gallon with the Unit Price Calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the fuel cost of a trip?
Divide the distance by the fuel economy to get the fuel needed, then multiply by the price per litre or gallon. With L/100 km, multiply the distance by the figure and divide by 100 instead.
Does the calculator know today's fuel prices?
No. It never looks up prices, so type the price you see at the pump. The cost carries no currency symbol, so the same calculation works in any currency.
Can I mix units, such as miles with L/100 km?
Yes. Each unit is chosen separately and converted exactly, with 1 mile as 1.609344 km and the US and UK gallons at 3.785411784 and 4.54609 litres.
How is the cost split between people?
The total is rounded once to cents and then divided by the number of people, from 1 to 100. Each share is rounded to cents, so 35.00 split three ways is 11.67 each.
Why does my real fuel bill differ from the estimate?
Fuel use depends on driving conditions. Speed, traffic, hills, cold weather, air conditioning and a full car all change consumption, so the official figure is only a starting point.