Trip fuel cost calculator for semis and box trucks

How it's calculated

• Truck gallons = (loaded miles + empty miles) ÷ MPG.
• Reefer gallons = reefer hours × burn rate, if a reefer is running.
• Trip fuel cost = all gallons × diesel price.
• Fuel cost per mile = trip fuel cost ÷ all miles; truck-only fuel per mile = price ÷ MPG.
• Fill-up cost = tank capacity × the empty share of the tank × price. Range = tank capacity × MPG.

The diesel default is the latest US weekly average from EIA 453213, so prices on your route may be higher or lower. MPG, reefer burn and tank size start as example values; your fuel log and spec sheet replace them. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.

A worked example

EXAMPLE: a 900-mile load with 120 empty miles to the pickup, a truck that averages 6.5 MPG, diesel at $6.20. As a dry van, the trip burns 156.9 gallons and costs $972.77, about $0.95 a mile. Run the same trip as a reefer with the unit on for 18 hours at an example 0.8 gallons an hour, and the fuel bill becomes $1,062.03, or $1.04 a mile.

MPG moves the answer more than anything else you control:

Semi truck fuel calculator vs box trucks and hotshots

The same math works for any truck we dispatch. A tractor-trailer, a 26 ft box truck and a hotshot rig differ in MPG, tank size and how much weight changes their fuel burn, so the numbers you enter matter more than the formula. A loaded box truck in city traffic can burn very differently from the same truck on the highway; use the MPG you get on loads like the one you're pricing.

Reading the result

Trip fuel cost

Hold this against what the load pays. Fuel is usually the biggest single cost on a trip, so a load that looks fine on rate can turn thin once the empty miles and reefer hours are in. The fuel surcharge calculator shows how much of this a surcharge would cover.

Fuel cost per mile

Trip fuel per mile includes reefer fuel spread over the miles; truck-only fuel per mile is just price divided by MPG. Use the truck-only figure in your cost per mile, and add reefer fuel per load when you price reefer freight.

Fill-up and range

Fill-up cost tells you how much cash or credit the next stop takes, which matters early in a new authority when cash is tight. Range tells you how far the tanks go; plan stops before you get low rather than buying at whatever station is nearest.

Ways to cut the fuel bill on a trip

• Less deadhead. Every empty mile burns fuel and pays nothing; a closer load at a lower rate can net more.
• Plan where you buy. Prices vary between states and stations along the same route.
• Watch speed and idle time. Both change MPG more than most drivers expect.
• Discounts. A fuel card can lower the price per gallon; check what it saves on your lanes with the fuel card savings calculator.
• Reefer settings. Run the setpoint and mode the shipper requires, no colder, and pre-cool only as long as needed.

Pricing fuel into a quote

When a broker asks for your rate, fuel is the first number to cover. Run the trip here, then add it to your other costs for the miles: if the trip burns $973 in fuel and your other running costs are, say, $0.80 a mile over 1,020 miles, the load has to pay at least $1,789 before it earns you anything. Turn that into a counter with the counter-offer calculator.

On all-in rates, the whole fuel cost sits inside that number. On rates with a separate surcharge, part of it comes back as FSC, but the base part still has to come from the linehaul.

Keep the records as you go

Every fill-up is a record you'll need later. Keep the receipt with the date, location, gallons and price, and note the odometer. Those receipts give you your real MPG, which makes this calculator more accurate each month, and they're the backbone of your quarterly fuel tax reporting, which works from miles and gallons by state. A fuel card statement does much of this for you, but check it against your own log now and then.

If you run a reefer, log unit hours separately. Reefer fuel is often bought from the same tanks or at the same stops, and without a separate log it's easy to blame the truck's MPG for fuel the unit burned.

Fuel and the loads we book

When we dispatch, fuel is part of how we judge every offer: the empty miles to get there, the reefer hours for cold freight, and whether the rate is all-in or plus fuel. We plan deadhead between loads and send you offers that make sense after fuel, and you confirm or say no. See reefer dispatch and dispatch for owner-operators, browse all tools, or apply.