How to Calculate the Fuel Cost Per Mile of Your Trucks (2024)

How to Calculate the Fuel Cost Per Mile of Your Trucks (1)

Understanding how much money your trucking company makes—and spends—on a per-mile basis is crucial to booking profitable loads.

To better calculate your fleet’s costs, revenue and profit per mile, you must determine the fuel efficiency of each truck you operate. Specifically, you need to know how much money you spend on diesel for every mile your trucks drive.

On average, semi-trucks get about 6.5 miles out of every fuel gallon. That performance varies greatly, however, depending on where you drive, how you drive and the age of the truck.

Use the following steps to determine a truck’s miles per gallon fuel usage and costs

  1. Fill up your truck’s fuel tank completely. Record the number of gallons and the odometer reading. As an example, let’s say your truck takes 200 gallons of diesel and the odometer reads 68,000 miles.
  2. The next time you fuel up, write down the number of gallons it takes to completely fill the tank and the new odometer reading. In this example, you filled 190 gallons of diesel and the odometer now reads 69,083.
  3. Subtract the earlier odometer reading from the current reading to determine how many miles you drove on the last tank of diesel: 69,083 – 68,000 = 1,083.
  4. Divide the number of miles you drove by the number of gallons you just put into your tank: 1,083 divided by 190 equals 5.7. Your truck’s fuel efficiency is 5.7 miles per gallon.
  5. Now, you can calculate your per-mile fuel spending. Take the current per-gallon price of diesel ($2.10) and divide it by your truck’s miles per gallon. So, $2.10 divided by 5.7 equals 36.84 cents. If you round that number up, you are spending 37 cents on fuel for every mile your truck travels.

Determining Profitability

With this information handy, you can more accurately calculate the profitability of different loads for you truck. For example, a dry van load from Dallas to Houston will pay your trucking company $1.89 per mile. Subtract the 37 cents per mile you expect to spend on fuel and you are looking at a $1.52 profit per mile before calculating driver pay and other costs.

Keep in mind that a truck’s miles per gallon will change over time, depending on maintenance, the tires on the truck and the routes driven. The per-gallon cost of diesel, of course, is constantly rising or falling. Continuously tracking the fuel usage and expenses for each of your trucks will ensure greater accuracy in selecting loads and determining freight rates for your company.

If you're interested in further reducingyour fuel costs, signup for a fuel card from RTS!

How to Calculate the Fuel Cost Per Mile of Your Trucks (2024)

FAQs

How to Calculate the Fuel Cost Per Mile of Your Trucks? ›

Fuel Cost = (Distance / Fuel Efficiency) * Fuel Price

How to calculate truck cost per mile? ›

To calculate your cost per mile, divide your total expenses for the month by the total number of miles you drove that month. For example, if your expenses totaled $3,000 and you drove 10,000 miles, your cost per mile would be $0.30.

How do you calculate fuel cost per mile? ›

How do you calculate fuel cost per mile? You can find the fuel cost per mile by taking the current per-gallon price of gas and dividing it by your vehicle's miles per gallon. This means you spend 14 cents on fuel for every mile that you travel in your vehicle.

What is the formula of cost per mile? ›

Use the formula: Cost per mile = Total Expenses / Total Miles Covered to determine the CPM. Remember that this calculation may include only some of the unique factors in your delivery operations. Consider additional expenses, such as vehicle repairs or specific delivery requirements.

How much fuel does a truck use per mile? ›

This infographic shows the average fuel economy of Class 7 and Class 8 trucks in the United States and Canada based on data collected by Geotab. Depicting an average miles per gallon range between 4.51 MPG and 6.47 MPG, the data highlights that there is room for improvement when it comes to fuel economy.

How do you calculate miles per gallon on a truck? ›

Divide the number of miles you drove by the number of gallons you just put into your tank: 1,083 divided by 190 equals 5.7. Your truck's fuel efficiency is 5.7 miles per gallon.

What is the dollar per mile for trucking? ›

As of July 2021, trucking rates per mile remain steady. Here are the current rates for the most popular freight truck types: Overall average van rates vary from $2.30 – 2.86 per mile. Reefer rates are averaging $3.19 per mile, with the lowest rates being the Northeast at $2.47 per mile.

What is the formula for fuel cost? ›

Fuel Cost = (Distance / Fuel Efficiency) * Fuel Price

Fuel Price is the cost of one gallon of fuel. To calculate the fuel cost, you divide the distance by the fuel efficiency to determine the total number of gallons of fuel consumed.

What does fuel cost per mile? ›

From 1 September 2022 to 30 November 2022
Engine sizePetrol — rate per mileLPG — rate per mile
1400cc or less15 pence9 pence
1401cc to 2000cc18 pence11 pence
Over 2000cc27 pence17 pence

What is the formula for fuel mileage? ›

The easiest way to calculate your gas mileage is to simply divide the number of miles traveled by the number of gallons of gas your vehicle took to refill. In sum, that's miles driven divided by gallons of gas used.

How do you calculate the price of a mile? ›

To calculate cost per mile, divide your total expenses by the total miles you have driven for a selected time period:
  1. For example, if your total monthly expenses are $5,000 and you drove 10,000 miles, your cost per mile is $0.50. ...
  2. United States: 58.5 cents per mile (Source) ...
  3. And historical data:
Jan 18, 2023

How much does a semi truck cost per mile? ›

In total, the ATRI estimates the total cost per mile for an average truck to operate to be $2.251 per mile, and $90.78 per hour. Of course, as with all averages, one size does not fit all.

What is the cost per mile to drive? ›

2022 Year-in-Review

On average, it costs $0.72 per mile to operate and maintain a new vehicle in 2022, assuming the owner drives it 15,000 miles per year. The per-mile cost of owning an automobile has remained the same since 2020 – at $0.44 per mile.

How to figure fuel cost per mile? ›

Gas rate = price per gallon divided by miles per gallon = price per mile.

How do I calculate fuel consumption of my truck? ›

Fc* = Miles Driven / Amount of Fuel Used

While this is an easy-to-follow formula, it's not always the most precise way to figure out your miles per gallon. There are many factors that affect that number, including the weight of the load you're hauling, truck specs, and your driving style.

What is a good mile per gallon for a truck? ›

The most fuel-efficient new fullsize pickup trucks you can buy are the diesel-powered 2023 Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra. These light-duty trucks both use the same 3.0-liter turbodiesel inline-six. Both trucks throw down a solid 33 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city.

How to calculate truck driver pay per mile? ›

Pay per mile can be calculated using the formula “miles x cents per mile = earnings.” However, it is crucial to understand that not all truck drivers' pay per mile is equal, as some carriers may offer attractive cents per mile but then limit the number of miles.

How do I calculate my pay per mile? ›

The formula is: Cents Per Mile = (Total Revenue ÷ Total Miles Driven) x 100 For example, if you made $2,500 in revenue from a 2,000-mile haul, your rate would be: Cents Per Mile = ($2,500 ÷ 2,000) x 100 = 125 cents per mile Please keep in mind that this calculation helps determine the revenue per mile but not the ...

What is the formula for trucking rate? ›

How are trucking freight rates calculated? Trucking rates are calculated on a per-mile basis. First, take the mileage between the starting and destination points. Then divide the total rate by the number of miles between destinations to get your trucking freight rate.

How do you calculate value per mile? ›

To figure out cents per mile, all you need to do is divide the cost of the ticket in cash by the cost in miles and then multiply by 100. For example, if you're purchasing a $500 ticket using 25,000 airline miles, you would be getting 2 cents per mile in value.

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