Gas, diesel, or electric — see what your trip really costs
💡 Why This Matters Whatever you drive, knowing your real trip cost before you leave makes budgeting a road trip (or your daily commute) a lot easier. Pick your fuel type, plug in your numbers, get an instant total.
Diesel engines are typically 20-35% more fuel-efficient than comparable gas engines by volume, which is why diesel trip costs often land closer to electric than to gas, even though diesel fuel itself usually costs more per gallon.
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For gas or diesel, trip distance is divided by MPG to get gallons needed, then multiplied by the price per gallon. For electric, trip distance is divided by miles-per-kWh efficiency to get kilowatt-hours needed, then multiplied by the price per kWh. All three use the same distance-over-efficiency-times-price logic — just different units per fuel type.
The dollar figure shows pure fuel or energy cost for the trip distance you entered — nothing else. It's a direct answer to "what will this trip cost me in fuel," useful for budgeting a road trip or sanity-checking your commute costs.
This doesn't account for charging losses (EVs typically lose 10-15% of energy to charging inefficiency), public charging markups, or maintenance costs like oil changes and tire wear. It's a fuel-cost snapshot, not a full cost-of-ownership picture — use it to estimate a trip, not to make a final vehicle-buying decision.
Run your actual commute or an upcoming road trip through the calculator to see your real numbers. Switch the fuel type dropdown to compare what the same trip would cost in a different vehicle you're considering.
Example: A 300-mile trip in a 28 MPG gas car at $3.50/gallon costs 300 ÷ 28 × $3.50 = $37.50. The same trip in an EV getting 3.5 mi/kWh at $0.16/kWh costs 300 ÷ 3.5 × $0.16 = $13.71.
Trip distance is divided by your vehicle's miles-per-gallon rating to get gallons needed, then multiplied by your local price per gallon.
Trip distance is divided by your EV's miles-per-kWh efficiency to get kilowatt-hours needed, then multiplied by your electricity price per kWh.
No — this calculates pure fuel or energy cost only. Real-world EV charging has some efficiency loss (typically 10-15%), and every vehicle type has its own maintenance costs, none of which is factored in here. Treat this as a fuel-cost estimate, not a full cost-of-ownership picture.