Truck Fuel Cost Calculator

How the fuel cost calculator works

Fuel is the largest variable cost of running a truck, and the arithmetic is simple once the units line up. This calculator converts whatever you enter, miles or kilometres, US or imperial gallons or litres, into litres per 100 km internally, works out the fuel burned, and prices it.

• Distance: the miles or kilometres you will actually drive, including the empty leg to the shipper and any out-of-route miles. Tick round trip to double it.
• Fuel economy: your truck's real average, loaded and empty, from fuel receipts or the ECM, not the brochure figure.
• Price: the pump price including tax. In the US and Canada that is per gallon or litre at the pump; in the UK, Europe, Australia and India per litre.
• Idle and DEF are optional. Idling burns fuel without moving the truck, and SCR engines use diesel exhaust fluid at a few per cent of diesel volume.

Formulas and unit conversions

The two gallons catch people out. A UK gallon is about 20 % bigger than a US gallon, so the same truck returning 7 mpg in the US reads about 8.4 mpg in the UK. Always check which gallon a figure uses before comparing trucks or quotes.

Worked examples

US long haul. A 1,200-mile run in a tractor averaging 6.8 mpg with diesel at $3.75 a gallon: 1,200 ÷ 6.8 = 176.5 gallons, and 176.5 × $3.75 = $661.76, or 55.1 cents a mile. Four hours of idling at 0.8 gal/h adds 3.2 gallons ($12.00), which is why APUs and idle-reduction policies pay for themselves on trucks that sleep in the cab.

European artic. A 900 km leg at 32 L/100 km with diesel at €1.62 a litre: 900 × 32 ÷ 100 = 288 litres, costing €466.56, or 52 cents per kilometre.

Mistakes that make trips look cheaper than they are

• Leaving out deadhead. The empty miles to the pickup and back home burn fuel too. A load that looks profitable on loaded miles can lose money once the deadhead is counted.
• Using a best-case MPG. Heavy loads, hills, headwinds, cold weather and high speed all cut economy. Use a trailing average from your own receipts.
• Mixing US and UK gallons. A UK mpg figure entered as US mpg understates fuel use by about 17 %.
• Forgetting the reefer. A refrigerated trailer's unit burns its own fuel, often around half a gallon to a gallon an hour. Add it as idle time if it draws from the same budget.
• Confusing fuel surcharge with fuel cost. A surcharge table is what the shipper pays you above a base price; your actual fuel bill is what this calculator works out. They should be close, but they are not the same number.