Fuel Cost Calculator
Price a drive before you take it by combining distance, fuel economy and the pump price. The tool converts every input to a common internal basis, so you can mix miles with mpg or kilometres with litres per 100 km without doing any conversion yourself. It returns the fuel volume, the total cost, the cost per unit of distance, and an even split across everyone sharing the car.
How to calculate the fuel cost of a trip
- Enter the trip distance and choose miles or km from the unit menu.
- Enter your fuel economy and pick mpg, L/100km or km/L to match your dashboard.
- Set the currency symbol, the fuel price, and whether it is per gallon or per litre.
- Enter how many people split the cost, then read fuel needed, total cost and per person.
- Use Copy summary to grab the full breakdown as text.
Examples
100 mile trip at 25 mpg
100 mi, 25 mpg, $3.50 per gallon, 1 person
4 gallons, $14.00 total, $0.14 per mile
Metric trip priced per litre
100 km, 8 L/100km, $1.80 per litre, 1 person
8 litres, $14.40 total, $0.144 per km
Longer drive split two ways
300 mi, 30 mpg, $3.20 per gallon, 2 people
10 gallons, $32.00 total, $0.107 per mile, $16.00 each
Frequently asked questions
How is the fuel cost worked out?
Your distance is converted to kilometres and your fuel economy is converted to litres consumed per kilometre. Those give the fuel volume the trip burns, which is expressed in the price's unit and multiplied by the price per gallon or litre for the total.
Can I mix units like kilometres with mpg?
Yes. Distance, fuel economy and price each carry their own unit selector, and everything is normalised internally. So kilometres of distance with an mpg economy figure priced per gallon all resolve to one correct total.
What do mpg, L/100km and km/L mean?
They are three ways to state fuel economy. Mpg is miles per US gallon, L/100km is litres burned every 100 kilometres, and km/L is kilometres driven per litre. Pick whichever your car's display uses so you do not have to convert first.
Is the gallon a US or imperial gallon?
A US gallon, defined as 3.78541 litres. If your prices are quoted per imperial gallon, convert to a per litre price and select the litre option, since one imperial gallon is about 4.546 litres.
How does splitting the cost work?
Enter the number of people sharing the drive and the total is divided equally between them. Fractional entries are floored to a whole number of people, and one person simply shows the full total as the per person figure.
What is the cost per mile or per km useful for?
It is the total cost divided by the distance you entered, giving a rate you can reuse for other trips or compare against mileage reimbursement. In the 300 mile example that rate is $0.107 per mile.
Is this a round trip or one way?
It calculates exactly the distance you enter. For a return journey, enter the full there-and-back distance, or double a one-way figure before typing it in.
Does it include tolls, wear or electricity?
No. It covers fuel only, so tolls, parking, tyres, servicing and depreciation are not included. For an electric vehicle, treat the price as your cost per unit of energy and the economy field will not map cleanly, so a dedicated EV cost tool is a better fit.
Is my trip data private?
Yes. The whole calculation happens in your browser and nothing is sent to a server, so your route, prices and passenger count stay on your device.
Learn more
- Understanding fuel economy units: mpg, L/100km and km/L
Why the same car reads three different economy numbers, how the units relate, and how to compare a US mpg figure against a litres per 100 km rating.
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