Automotive Australia
Fuel Cost Calculator Australia
Enter the distance, your car's consumption and the price you are paying at the pump. There is no live fuel price feed here on purpose — a hardcoded national average would be wrong for almost everyone almost all the time.
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Your measured figure beats the sticker
Fuel cost for the trip
—Fuel used
—
Cost per km
—
Each, if shared
—
Total distance
—
Working with a different rate? Edit the rates this calculator uses
These are the figures we verified on 2026-10-28. Change them to work with a historic period, or with a new rate that has been announced but which we have not published yet.
There is no free authoritative national feed, so this is yours to set
How do you calculate the fuel cost of a trip?
Divide the distance by 100, multiply by your litres per 100 km, then multiply by the price per litre. A 750 kilometre trip in a car using 8.2 L/100km at $1.95 a litre costs 7.5 × 8.2 × 1.95 = $119.93 one way, or about $240 return.
Why there is no live fuel price here
Australian pump prices move on a discounting cycle that differs by city and can swing twenty cents a litre inside a fortnight. There is no free, authoritative national feed a static page could cite, and every state's fuel price reporting scheme works differently.
Hardcoding a figure would mean quietly serving a stale one — the exact failure that makes so many calculators untrustworthy after a year. So the price is a field, and it defaults to a placeholder you should overwrite with what you actually paid.
If you are planning rather than reconciling, the state fuel price schemes and the major motoring clubs publish current averages. Take the figure from there and put it in the field.
Where the estimate will be wrong
Three things move a real trip away from this calculation, and all of them push the same way.
Terrain and load. A car carrying four people and luggage over a range uses noticeably more than the same car empty on the flat.
Speed. Aerodynamic drag rises with the square of speed, so the difference between sitting on 100 and sitting on 110 is larger than the ten per cent it looks like.
Roof racks and towing. A roof box can add 10 to 20 per cent on a highway run; a caravan can double consumption outright.
For a loaded highway trip, adding ten per cent to your usual consumption figure is a more honest starting point than using the number your trip computer showed around town.
How this is calculated
Three numbers multiplied together, with the distance doubled if you are coming home again.
total distance = one-way distance × (2 if return)litres used = total distance ÷ 100 × consumption in L/100kmcost = litres × price per litrecost per kilometre = cost ÷ total distancecost each = cost ÷ number of people
The consumption figure is where the estimate lives or dies. The manufacturer's combined figure comes from a laboratory cycle and is usually 10 to 20 per cent optimistic against real driving, so a trip budgeted on it will come up short.
A long highway run is the one case where real consumption can beat the combined figure, because the combined number folds in urban driving. If the trip is mostly open road, using your own measured highway figure rather than your overall average will be closer.
A worked example: Sydney to Melbourne and back
About 880 kilometres each way, in a car using 8.2 L/100km, at $1.95 a litre, with two people sharing.
- One-way distance880 km
- Return — × 21,760 km
- Fuel used — 17.6 × 8.2144.3 L
- Cost — 144.3 × $1.95$281.39
- Cost per kilometre$0.16
- Split two ways$140.70 each
About $281 in fuel for the round trip, or $141 each with two people sharing.
Fuel is only part of the cost of driving. Tyres, servicing and depreciation add roughly as much again per kilometre on most cars, which matters when comparing driving against flying.
What this calculator does not do
- Fuel only — it excludes tolls, tyres, servicing and depreciation
- Uses one consumption figure for the whole trip, not a per-leg one
- Assumes the price you enter applies to every fill on the journey
- Regional prices are often well above metropolitan ones on a long drive
Common questions
How do I work out the fuel cost of a trip?
Distance ÷ 100 × your L/100km × the price per litre. For 750 km at 8.2 L/100km and $1.95, that is 7.5 × 8.2 × 1.95 = $119.93 one way.
What fuel consumption figure should I use?
Your own measured figure from a brim-to-brim tank if you have one. The manufacturer's combined figure is measured on a laboratory cycle and typically runs 10 to 20 per cent optimistic in real driving.
Why doesn't this show the current fuel price?
Because there is no free authoritative national feed, and prices vary by city and by day on a discounting cycle. A hardcoded number would be quietly wrong, so the field is yours to set.
How much does towing a caravan add?
It varies with the van and the vehicle, but doubling consumption is not unusual. Use a measured figure from a previous towing trip rather than your unladen average.
Is driving cheaper than flying?
On fuel alone, often yes with two or more people. Including tyres, servicing and depreciation the gap narrows considerably, and this calculator only covers the fuel.
Where these numbers come from
- Green Vehicle Guide — Australian Government fuel consumption data Official combined-cycle consumption figures by vehicle
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission — petrol price monitoring Background on the Australian fuel price cycle
Rates last verified 2026-10-28 Every figure no single authority — pump prices are user-entered sets is re-checked against the source at least once a year, and again whenever a change is announced. Out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.
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