Travel Cost Calculator
Compare what a road trip costs in energy alone by petrol, diesel or electric car. Enter your distance, consumption and local prices — every result on this page can be reproduced from the numbers you see, using the formulas below.
This is not the total cost of travelling. Tolls, parking, ferries, depreciation, maintenance, insurance, tyres and charging-network fees are all excluded.
Where are you driving?
Pick a country or US state to start from officially published energy prices. Every value stays editable.
Official electricity prices are residential averages. Public EV charging prices can differ substantially, so enter your own rate when charging on the road.
Your trip
Switching units only changes how values are shown. Your entered figures keep their exact values.
Display only. Enter every price in the same currency — no exchange rates are applied.
Your trip
2,000 km total · Return · 4 travellers
- Petrol€234.00€58.50/person
- Diesel€192.50€48.13/person
- Electric (EV)€126.00€31.50/person
Electric (EV) has the lowest energy cost — €108.00 less than petrol (46% lower).
Energy cost only. Excludes tolls, parking, ferries, depreciation, maintenance, insurance and charging-network fees.
How each figure is calculated
Petrol
- Energy used
- 130 L
- Cost per 100 km
- €11.70
- Cost per traveller
- €58.50
- Cost per passenger-km
- €0.029
2,000 km ÷ 100 × 6.5 L = 130 L × €1.80 = €234.00
Diesel
- Energy used
- 110 L
- Cost per 100 km
- €9.63
- Cost per traveller
- €48.13
- Cost per passenger-km
- €0.024
2,000 km ÷ 100 × 5.5 L = 110 L × €1.75 = €192.50
Electric (EV)
- Energy used
- 360 kWh
- Cost per 100 km
- €6.30
- Cost per traveller
- €31.50
- Cost per passenger-km
- €0.016
2,000 km ÷ 100 × 18 kWh = 360 kWh × €0.350 = €126.00
Break-even prices
- At €1.80 per litre and 6.5 L/100 km, electricity could cost up to €0.650 per kWh before EV energy cost matches petrol.
- At €1.75 per litre and 5.5 L/100 km, electricity could cost up to €0.535 per kWh before EV energy cost matches diesel.
- Petrol would need to fall to €0.969 per litre to match your current electricity price.
- Diesel would need to fall to €1.145 per litre to match your current electricity price.
Break-even does not depend on distance or number of travellers — it depends only on consumption and prices.
Price shock scenarios
See what happens if energy prices rise. Choose whether the change applies to every price or to one energy type at a time.
All energy prices
No change
No change
No change
No scenario applied — these are your current prices.
A worked example
A 1,000 km return trip is 2,000 km of driving. An electric car using 18 kWh/100 km needs 2,000 ÷ 100 × 18 = 360 kWh. At €0.35 per kWh that is €126.00 of electricity. A petrol car using 6.5 L/100 km needs 130 litres; at €1.80 per litre that is €234.00. Split between four travellers, the same trip is €31.50 per person by EV and €58.50 by petrol.
The formulas
distance_km = miles × 1.609344 (when miles are selected) effective_km = round trip ? distance_km × 2 : distance_km energy_used = effective_km ÷ 100 × consumption_per_100km total_cost = energy_used × unit_price cost_per_traveller = total_cost ÷ travellers cost_per_100km = total_cost ÷ effective_km × 100 cost_per_pass_km = total_cost ÷ (effective_km × travellers) break-even kWh price vs petrol = (petrol_L100 × petrol_price) ÷ ev_kWh100 break-even litre price vs EV = (ev_kWh100 × kWh_price) ÷ petrol_L100
Break-even prices contain no distance or traveller term, so they do not change when you edit the trip — only consumption and prices move them.
Methodology and exclusions
- The calculator models energy cost only: fuel burned or electricity consumed for the distance you enter.
- Consumption presets labelled Efficient, Typical and High are Destination Finder calculator assumptions, not official manufacturer, WLTP or EPA figures. Every value is editable.
- Real-world consumption varies with speed, load, terrain, weather, tyre pressure and driving style. Motorway driving in particular raises EV consumption.
- EV charging is modelled as a single price per kWh. In practice home charging and rapid charging can differ by a factor of three or more; enter a blended price that reflects how you would actually charge.
- All prices must be entered in one currency. The currency selector changes the symbol only — no exchange rates are applied.
- Percentage differences are expressed relative to the more expensive option, so €108 against €234 reads as 54% lower.
- Units are a display layer. Everything is stored and calculated in kilometres, litres per 100 km and kWh per 100 km, using 1 mile = 1.609344 km, 1 US gallon = 3.785411784 litres and MPG = 235.214583 ÷ (L/100 km). Switching between metric and US units never changes the underlying figures.
- Official prices come from a snapshot of published statistics taken at build time. No price data is fetched while you use the page, and no exchange rate is ever applied: a price is only offered in the currency its source publishes.
- No CO₂, train, flight or ferry comparison is included.
Where the official prices come from
Selecting a country or US state fills the price fields from official statistics. Snapshot taken 2026-09-01. Each field shows its source, the period the number describes and how often that series is refreshed.
- European Commission Weekly Oil Bulletin — updated weekly, flagged as older than expected after 21 days.
- Eurostat household electricity prices (nrg_pc_204) — updated twice a year, flagged as older than expected after 330 days.
- U.S. EIA residential electricity price by state — updated monthly, flagged as older than expected after 120 days.
- U.S. EIA weekly retail motor-fuel prices — updated weekly, flagged as older than expected after 21 days.
- US state petrol and diesel prices are only shown where the EIA publishes a genuinely state-level series. Elsewhere the national average is offered as a labelled reference and is never filled in automatically.
- Electricity prices are residential averages including taxes. Public rapid charging typically costs considerably more.