Delivery Vehicle Cost Calculator
What your bicycle, e-bike, scooter, car or electric van really costs for every km or mile.
Part of the 🛵 Delivery Drivers toolkit, with more tools made for the job.
Yearly costs of the vehicle
Only work distance. Used to spread the yearly costs.
Include waiting. Gives the cost per hour.
Choose your vehicle and type its yearly costs and the distance you cover, and the cost per distance appears here.
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Pick your vehicle, type how much fuel or electricity it uses and its yearly costs, and the distance you cover for work. This gives the cost for every km or mile, and for every hour of work.
Most riders and drivers count the fuel and forget the rest. But servicing, tyres, insurance, loan payments and the value your vehicle loses all come out of the same pay. Spreading the yearly costs over the distance you actually ride shows what each delivery really costs you to make, and it is the number the other delivery tools need.
How it’s worked out
- Energy cost per km: fuel economy turned into litres per 100 km and multiplied by the price, or kWh per 100 km multiplied by the electricity price. A bicycle has none.
- Yearly costs are added together: servicing, tyres and parts, insurance, value loss or loan payments, and registration.
- Fixed cost per km is the yearly costs divided by the distance you cover for work in a year.
- Cost per km is the energy cost plus the fixed cost. Per hour is that times the distance you cover per hour of work.
A scooter using 3 litres per 100 km at 1.50 a litre costs 0.045 per km in fuel. With 910 a year of other costs over 15,000 km that adds 0.061, so each km costs about 0.106, or about 1.60 an hour at 15 km an hour.
Common mistakes
- Counting only fuel. Servicing, tyres, insurance and value loss are usually bigger than the fuel on a bicycle, e-bike or scooter.
- Using the distance for the whole year, not just work. Only distance you cover for deliveries should be spread over the work costs.
- Forgetting that the vehicle loses value. If you would have to replace it, a share of that cost belongs in every km.
- Using a rough fuel economy figure. Measure your own over a few tanks or charges, since loads, stops and hills change it.
Questions
Does it work in miles and US or UK gallons?
Yes. Choose miles or kilometres, and give fuel use in litres per 100 km, miles per US gallon or miles per UK gallon. Price is per litre, or per US gallon if you use US mpg.
What about electric bikes and cars?
Pick e-bike or electric car. Give watt-hours per km for an e-bike, and kWh per 100 km or miles per kWh for a car, with your electricity price.
What is "value loss or loan payments"?
The money your vehicle costs you for owning it. If you pay a loan or lease, use the yearly payments. If you own it, use roughly how much value it loses in a year.
What do I do with the result?
Use it in the "is this order worth it?" calculator, to compare vehicles, or to work out a mileage deduction. The links under the result lead there.
Estimates only
These are estimates and general information, not financial, tax, legal or professional advice. Costs, fuel and electricity prices, pay rates, tax rules and platform rules differ by country and place, so use your own figures and check the rules where you live.
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