Gas Calculator

Created by Kenneth Alambra
Last updated: Jul 07, 2022

If you want to estimate how much gas you will use on your next road trip, this gas calculator is for you. In this calculator, you will learn:

  • The importance of understanding fuel economy;
  • How to calculate how much gas it will take to run any certain distance;
  • How to estimate the cost of gas for any trip; and
  • How to use this gas calculator.

Understanding fuel economy

Fuel economy is a measure that we can use to estimate the efficiency of our vehicles. Its value varies from one vehicle to another and may change depending on the type of road you drive on, your driving velocity, and how much weight a car carries. We usually express fuel economy in terms of how far a vehicle can go per volume of gas or fuel.

Another metric related to fuel economy is fuel consumption which we express in terms of the amount of gas or fuel a vehicle needs to run a certain distance (e.g., liters per kilometer or liters per 100 kilometers). In an ideal situation, we want a low fuel consumption vehicle.

Knowing our vehicle's fuel economy or fuel consumption can help us plan our trips and budget our fuel expenses. In the next section of this text, let us learn how to use this gas calculator to utilize fuel economy for our gas cost calculations.

How to use this gas calculator

Here are the steps you can follow when using our gas estimation calculator:

  1. Choose your trip type.
  2. Select your car model from the options. If your car is not there, select Other vehicle and enter your vehicle's fuel economy. You can check out our MPG Calculator to learn how to determine your car's fuel consumption or fuel economy if you do not know it yet.
  3. Enter the distance you are traveling. By this time, our tool will display a gas estimation you will use for that trip.
  4. Input the fuel price in your area to find the cost of the trip you are having.
  5. You can also enter the number of people splitting the bill to divide the fuel cost evenly.

How to calculate how much gas it will take to run any certain distance

To calculate how much gas you will use in any length of trip:

  1. Know your car's fuel consumption. Let's say your car only uses 8.5 liters of gas to travel a distance of 100 km.
  2. Determine how far your next trip will be. Google Maps can help you with that, but you can use any other maps or source of this information for this step. Say you need to travel from the Empire State Building to The White House, which is around 374 km away.
  3. Substitute those values into this equation:
Fuel used=Distance×Fuel consumption=374 km×8.5 liters100 km=31.79 liters\scriptsize \begin{align*} \text{Fuel used} &= \text{Distance}\times \text{Fuel consumption}\\\\ &= 374\ \text{km}\times \frac{8.5\ \text{liters}}{100\ \text{km}}\\\\ &= 31.79\ \text{liters}\\ \end{align*}
  1. Finally, to calculate the cost of gas for trips like this, multiply the fuel price (say $ 1.20) by the volume of fuel used.
Cost of the trip=Fuel used×Fuel price=31.79 liters×1.20 $liter=$ 38.148$ 38.15\scriptsize \begin{align*} \text{Cost of the trip} &= \text{Fuel used}\times \text{Fuel price}\\ &= 31.79\ \text{liters}\times 1.20\ \tfrac{\$}{\text{liter}}\\ &= \$\ 38.148\\ &≈ \$\ 38.15 \end{align*}
Kenneth Alambra
Trip type
City
Car
Ford F150
Fuel consumption of 20 miles per (US-) Gallon.
If you can't find your car or the fuel consumption is different, select "Other vehicle" option instead.
Distance
mi
Fuel used
US gal
Fuel price
$/
US gal
Cost of the trip
$
Division of payment
Number of people
Cost per person
$
The specifications, age and condition of your engine can affect its fuel economy, so... your milleage may vary.
Select the "other vehicle" (in the second field) for the best results.
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