Average Cost of Petrol for a Car 2025
Fuel is one of the biggest costs of car ownership next to the cost of car insurance, consuming a significant portion of the typical household budget. See how much motorists really spend at the pump each year.
Average Cost of Petrol per Litre
In January 2025, the average cost of motor fuel was £1.37 per litre for ultra low sulphur unleaded petrol and £1.43 per litre for ultra low sulphur diesel. Prices have fluctuated a bit in the past year, but much to the relief of motorists across the country have remained below the prices seen around 2 years earlier.
The gap between petrol and diesel is now a touch wider than historically—over the past 10 years, diesel averaged 5.9p/l more expensive than petrol, but now the gap is around 6.7p/l, making diesel less appealing than it was when the gap was smaller a year or so ago.
Nonetheless, diesel owners in particular are feeling more relief, because diesel prices had really skyrocketed and are now coming back in line. Compared to one year ago, owners of petrol cars paid 3% less at the pump in January 2025 than they did a year earlier; diesel prices were down 3.6% over the same time period.
How Much do Motorists Really Spend on Fuel?
Motorists spend an average of £1,051 a year to fuel a petrol and £1,257 for a diesel, for cars with average fuel economy and average mileage (which is higher for diesels).
While diesel costs less money to buy and diesel cars get better gas mileage, diesel drivers tend to accumulate more miles on their cars each year—petrol cars rack up around 6,100 miles a year while diesel cars drive 8,300 miles each year, contributing to higher overall annual fuel costs for the typical diesel car. The annual fuel cost figures below reflect these different mileage numbers.
| Average Cost of Car Fuel | Petrol | Diesel |
|---|---|---|
| Average distance travelled per year per car | 6,100 miles | 8,300 miles |
| Average car fuel efficiency | 36 mpg | 43 mpg |
| Motor fuel used per year | 169 gallons | 193 gallons |
| Cost of fuel per litre | 136.6 p/litre | 143.3 p/litre |
| Cost of fuel per gallon | £6.2/gallon | £6.51/gallon |
| Average annual cost of fuel for a car | £1,051 | £1,257 |
*Note: average mileage figures are from 2023, the latest available at the time of update. We used fuel prices from January 2025.
Annual Cost of Motor Fuel per 1,000 Miles
The amount you spend at the pump each year depends on three factors: your annual mileage, the fuel efficiency of your car and the cost of fuel. Given average fuel efficiency of 36 mpg for a petrol and 43 mpg for a diesel and recent fuel prices (around 136.6 p/litre for petrol and 143.3 p/litre for diesel in January 2025), the typical petrol car consumes £151 of fuel for every 1,000 miles travelled; the diesel costs £172—that's 12% less for the diesel car! A few months ago, the 'diesel discount' had all but evaporated but it is now back.
And an EV is fueled for a fraction of the cost of a petrol or diesel car, despite higher electricity prices. In fact, the typical EV is ~50% cheaper to fuel on a regular EPC home tariff; or 87% cheaper to fuel on a special time of use EV tariff.
| How Much Does Fuel Cost to Drive 1,000 Miles? | |
|---|---|
| EV (charge at night on EV tariff) | £21 |
| EV (charge at home on regular tariff) | £73 |
| Diesel | £151 |
| Petrol | £172 |
How do fuel costs compare for EVs vs petrol and diesel?
Even on a regular home electricity tariff, which is currently around 24.5p/kWh, an EV owner would spend ~50% less on fuel per mile than the driver of a comparable petrol car (assuming they drive the same amount).
On an EV tariff—which typically has drastically reduced nighttime electricity rates, EV owners spend even less. Learn more about this and see charging costs for different cars in our article on the cost to charge an EV.
For 7,000 miles of driving (the average annual mileage), an EV on a time of use EV tariff would spend around £150 per year to fuel their car; an EV charged on a regular home electricity tariff would cost around £500 per year—compare this to around £1,000 for the petrol and £1,200 for the diesel cars.
How much is petrol per mile?
On a per mile basis, the fuel costs in the range of 13p - 18p pence per mile for a petrol car; the fuel costs around 13p - 16p pence per mile for a diesel car. This is roughly 50% to 90% more expensive than the cost to run an electric car per mile, even on a regular tariff.
And this varies by engine size. A car with a larger engine (higher CCs, larger horsepower) will burn more fuel and have worse fuel economy/a lower MPG. That means cars with more CCs cost more in fuel per mile.
| Cost of Petrol per Mile | Average MPG | Cost per mile |
|---|---|---|
| Gasoline | ||
| up to 1400 cc | 46 | 13p |
| 1401 to 2000 cc | 42 | 14p |
| Over 2000 cc | 34 | 18p |
| Diesel | ||
| up to 1600 cc | 50 | 13p |
| 1601 to 2000 cc | 46 | 14p |
| over 2000 cc | 40 | 16p |
If you're reading this because you're an employer or employee thinking about per-mile expense reimbursements for work journeys, please read more about this topic here.
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Annual Cost of Motor Fuel by Mileage
Your fuel costs may be significantly lower or higher, however, depending on your typical average annual mileage. Below, we've calculated annual fuel costs for the average car for a range of mileages. For example, a typical car driving 5,000 miles a year costs around £861 in petrol while one driving 12,000 miles a year costs nearly £2,067 to fuel up. EVs are much cheaper to power.
| Annual Cost of Motor Fuel by mileage | Petrol | Diesel | EV (EPC tariff of 24.5p/kWh) | EV (EV tariff of 7p/kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000 | £861 | £757 | £365 | £105 |
| 6,000 | £1,033 | £908 | £438 | £126 |
| 7,000 | £1,206 | £1,060 | £511 | £147 |
| 8,000 | £1,378 | £1,211 | £584 | £168 |
| 9,000 | £1,550 | £1,363 | £657 | £189 |
| 10,000 | £1,722 | £1,514 | £730 | £210 |
| 12,000 | £2,067 | £1,817 | £876 | £252 |
| 15,000 | £2,583 | £2,271 | £1,095 | £315 |
Annual Cost of Motor Fuel by Fuel Economy
The fuel efficiency of your car has a drastic impact on how much your car costs you each year to run. Cars with the best fuel economy (e.g., the Skoda Octavia which achieves around 67.3 mpg in the real world) cost a fraction of the price to run as a car with poor gas mileage (e.g., Land Rover Discovery or Mercedes S500 that get only around 26-27 mpg). For example, a motorist that clocks the average of around 6,000 miles per year (typical for a petrol car) would pay £676 per year in petrol if their car achieves 55 mpg, while a car that guzzles 25 mpg costs their driver £1,488 a year at the pump.
| Annual Motor Fuel Costs by Fuel Efficiency (6,000 miles per year, petrol cost of 136.6p/l) | |
|---|---|
| 25 mpg | £1,488 |
| 30 mpg | £1,240 |
| 35 mpg | £1,063 |
| 40 mpg | £930 |
| 45 mpg | £827 |
| 50 mpg | £744 |
| 55 mpg | £676 |
| 60 mpg | £620 |
| 65 mpg | £572 |
| 70 mpg | £531 |
Newer cars tend to have better gas mileage as technology improves. So if your car is on the older side and you're spending too much at the pump, a new car upgrade might actually save you some money in the long term. Finally, implementing tips to improve your car's fuel efficiency can reduce your overall motor fuel bills.
NEW! Car Fuel Cost Calculator
Want to figure out how much you're spending based on your mileage, car's MPG and your typical fuel cost? If you're not sure of your fuel costs, you can use current averages which are £1.366 for petrol and £1.433 for diesel per litre (January 2025). Enter your data into the fuel cost calculator below then click the yellow lighting button below to get your result.
Fuel Cost Calculator
Fuel Cost
If you'd like some different functionality for the calculator, let us know in the comments section below!