How to Calculate Gas for Car
If you are planning a road trip, you may want to plan out how much gas you will need for the trip. The U.S. Department of Energy publishes a database of the gas mileage estimates for cars, which can aid in your efforts. By calculating how much gas you will need, you can better plan your gas stops and estimate costs by multiplying the number of gallons by the amount you expect to pay per gallon. Cars have two different published gas mileage estimates: highway and city.
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Instructions
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Look up the gas mileage for your car using either your owner's manual or the U.S. Department of Energy's database at FuelEconomy.gov. Be sure to note both the highway mileage and city mileage.
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Calculate the distance you are driving. You can use a map or Google maps to find a mileage estimate.
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Estimate the percentage of the trip that you will be spending on the highway versus the percentage of the time that you will be spending in city driving conditions. For example, if you are taking a long road trip on the highway, you may estimate you will drive about 90 percent of your miles on the highway and 10 percent in the city.
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Calculate the estimated fuel efficiency for your car on the trip by multiplying the percentage of highway driving and the car's highway fuel economy, multiplying the percentage of city driving times the car's city fuel economy and adding the two together. For example, if your trip will consist of 90 percent highway driving and 10 percent city driving and your car gets 29 mpg on the highway and 23 mpg in the city, then your car will get 28.4 mpg.
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Divide the total distance you are driving by the fuel efficiency for the trip to find out the amount of gas you will need. For example, if you are driving 600 miles and your estimated fuel efficiency was 28.4 mpg, you would need about 21.2 gallons of gas.
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