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About this tool
Calories burned riding to work plus the fuel, money and CO2 you avoid by leaving the car at home.
The Cycling Commute Calorie Calculator works out the energy cost of riding to work and the fuel, money and CO2 the same journey by car would have used. Calories come from the ACSM equation kcal/min = MET x 3.5 x kg / 200, with the MET taken from the speed-banded bicycling codes in the Compendium of Physical Activities — 4.0 below 16 km/h, 6.8 at 16-19 km/h, 8.0 at 19-22 km/h and 10.0 at 22-26 km/h. Fuel savings use the standard combustion figures of 2.31 kg CO2 per litre of petrol and 2.68 kg per litre of diesel.
Open Cycling Commute Calorie Calculator on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Under "The ride", enter Body weight, One-way distance, "Average speed (km/h)", Trips per day and "Commuting days per week".
Under "The car you are not driving", set "Car fuel economy (km per litre)", "Fuel price per litre" and Fuel type.
Read "Calories per week" with the MET intensity band and per-trip figures, then the car panel's litres, cost and tailpipe CO2; press Copy result.
The MET value is looked up from your average speed rather than guessed.
Per-trip, weekly and annual totals for calories, litres, money and CO2.
Tailpipe emissions only, and the page says what the figure excludes.
An 8 km ride at 18 km/h burns about 228 kcal for a 72 kg rider, so a return commute five days a week comes to roughly 2,285 kcal — around 119,000 kcal a year. Riding the same route at 24 km/h raises the intensity from 6.8 to 10.0 MET, though the trip is shorter in time.
Burning one litre of petrol releases about 2.31 kg of CO2, and one litre of diesel about 2.68 kg. A 80 km weekly commute in a car doing 15 km per litre uses 5.3 litres, so cycling it instead avoids roughly 12.3 kg of CO2 a week, or about 640 kg a year.
Often yes. Cycling at 16 km/h or more sits at 6.8 MET, which this calculator bands as "Light effort, 16-19 km/h", so a 27-minute ride each way five days a week comes to 270 minutes of riding a week — comfortably past the WHO's 150-minute weekly minimum for moderate-intensity activity.
Per minute yes, but not always per trip, because a faster ride is over sooner. Doubling speed from 15 to 25 km/h roughly halves the time while raising the MET from 4.0 to 10.0, so the total for a fixed distance still goes up — just by less than the intensity jump suggests.
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