Price any road trip from distance, fuel economy and the price at the pump — total fuel, total cost, cost per mile or kilometre, and split per passenger. Runs entirely in your browser — your numbers never leave this device.
The price is whatever you type — pump prices change daily and differ by station, so nothing is stored or fetched. Costs are in the same currency as the price you entered.
| Economy (MPG, US) | Fuel cost per mile |
|---|---|
| 20 | 0.180 |
| 25 | 0.144 |
| 30 | 0.120 |
| 40 | 0.090 |
| 50 | 0.072 |
A trip's fuel cost is two multiplications deep. First the economy figure turns distance into fuel: miles divided by MPG gives US gallons, while kilometres multiplied by L/100 km and divided by 100 gives litres. Then the price you type in turns fuel into money. Everything else on the page is that total divided two useful ways — by the number of passengers splitting it, and by the distance itself, because cost per mile (or per kilometre) is the figure that lets you compare a car, a route or a driving style against the alternatives.
Distance and economy can be mixed across unit systems: enter the trip in kilometres with an economy quoted in MPG and the distance is converted internally at the exact rate, 1 mile = 1.609344 km, before the division. The price must match the economy's fuel unit — per US gallon for MPG, per litre for L/100 km — because the price is applied to the fuel quantity the economy produced. No price is built in: pump prices move daily and differ by station and country, so the one number only you can know is the one you supply, and the answer comes back in that same currency.
Use the per-passenger split for shared trips and the per-mile figure for budgeting. A car that costs 0.12 per mile in fuel over a 450-mile trip is a 54.00 fuel bill however it is split; the split changes who pays, never what the trip costs. Tolls, parking and wear are outside this arithmetic — it prices fuel only, and says so.
Yes. The distance is converted at 1 mile = 1.609344 km before the economy is applied, so a 100 km trip in a 50 MPG car correctly uses 100 ÷ 1.609344 ÷ 50 = 1.24 US gallons. Just keep the price in the economy's fuel unit: per gallon for MPG, per litre for L/100 km.
Because there is no single true price: it differs by station, city, fuel grade and day, and a fetched average would silently price your trip at a figure you never paid. You type the price on your receipt or your local pump, and the result is in that currency.
No — it only divides it. The total is set by distance, economy and price; three passengers splitting a 54.00 trip pay 18.00 each, and the car still burns the same 15 gallons. The split is a fairness tool, not a discount.
Comparability. Totals change with every trip length, but cost per mile is a property of the car, the price and your driving: at 3.60 per gallon it runs from 0.180 per mile at 20 MPG down to 0.072 at 50 MPG, so you can price any future distance instantly and compare cars honestly.
Fuel only. Tolls, parking, tyres, servicing and depreciation are real trip costs but they are not fuel, and folding in invented rates for them would make the figure uncheckable. If you need the fuel for a fill-to-fill economy check instead, the MPG Calculator works the same numbers the other way round.
More in Automotive Calculators · Browse all tools