Enter your current diesel price, contract base, MPG, and annual miles to see your per-mile surcharge, total annual surcharge billing, and annual fuel cost. Pre-filled with the latest EIA national diesel average.
As of the week of 2026-04-13, the U.S. on-highway diesel average is $5.608/gal. A fuel surcharge is a per-mile fee carriers bill shippers to offset diesel volatility above a contractual base price. The standard step-function contract adds $0.01 per loaded mile for every $0.05/gal the current diesel price exceeds the base (often $1.50–$2.00/gal in legacy contracts, or reset to roughly $3.00 in newer ones). Carriers reference the weekly EIA U.S. On-Highway Diesel Price as the index. For a typical Class 8 sleeper running 125,000 miles annually at 6.5 MPG, every $0.10/gal above base translates to roughly $2,000–$2,500 in annual surcharge revenue on that truck. Review your base price annually to keep margin recovery intact across for-hire and dedicated fleet operations.
77 increments above base ($3.86 delta)
$8,020.83 per month
~19,231 gallons at current price
Surcharge billing only engages above this price.
How much of a 10¢/gal fuel cost jump your surcharge recovers.
The standard fuel surcharge step-function formula:
surcharge_per_mile = floor((current_price - base_price) / contract_increment) * surcharge_per_increment
A fuel surcharge is a per-mile fee a carrier adds to a shipping rate to offset diesel price volatility. Most carrier–shipper contracts define a base price per gallon (often $1.50–$2.00) and a step-function — for example $0.01 per loaded mile for every $0.05 the current diesel price exceeds base. The surcharge adjusts weekly in sync with the EIA national on-highway diesel average.
Subtract the contract base price from the current diesel price, divide by the contract increment (e.g. $0.05/gal), then multiply by the per-mile surcharge rate (e.g. $0.01/mile). Example: diesel at $3.85, base $1.85, $0.05 increments at $0.01/mile = ($3.85 − $1.85) ÷ $0.05 × $0.01 = $0.40/mile. On a 500-mile load, that's a $200 surcharge.
Most legacy contracts use $1.20–$2.00/gal as the base price, reflecting historical early-2000s diesel levels. Modern contracts often reset the base to a more current level (e.g. $3.00) with a smaller per-increment multiplier. The base is negotiable — fleets with longer contracts should review base prices annually against the current EIA national average.
Most shipper–carrier agreements peg the surcharge to the EIA's weekly U.S. On-Highway Diesel Fuel Price, which publishes every Monday for the prior week. TruckRadar pre-fills the calculator with the latest published price so carriers can quickly model the coming week.
Most contracts apply the surcharge only to loaded (revenue) miles, not to deadhead. For fleet-level margin analysis, use loaded miles only — otherwise you'll overstate recovery. Private fleets doing round-trip dedicated work can apply the surcharge to all miles since the shipper controls the routing.
The North American fleet average for Class 8 sleepers is 6.0–7.0 MPG depending on spec, load weight, and lane. New aerodynamic trucks with automated manual transmissions can exceed 7.5 MPG. Owner-operators optimizing for fuel economy sometimes clear 8.0 MPG. Use your own telematics-reported number for precise surcharge modeling.