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Data · fuel on the road

The Autobahn fuel premium: 45–49 cents a litre

Fill up at a German Autobahn service area and you pay 45–49 cents a litre more for diesel than at the stations off the motorway near the same junction (within 25 km). On a 60-litre tank that is about €27–29; on a motorhome's 90 litres, €41–44. Measured, not estimated: live prices from Germany's official fuel-price register, read at 19 junction areas on the main holiday routes.

Last read Mon 2 Nov, 16:07Download: map · chart · kartta · suomeksi · CSV
Map of Germany's Autobahns with the fuel stations at service areas, the truck stops at the exits and the measured price gap at 19 junctionsDiesel price at each Autobahn service area against the stations off the motorway near the same junction

Every reading

ReadAreasDiesel premiumvs the cheapest nearbyPetrol (E5)
Mon 2 Nov, 07:501949 c53 c52 c
Mon 2 Nov, 16:071945 c54 c50 c

The premium per junction area is the median service-area price minus the median of the open stations off the motorway within 25 km; the national figure is the median of those. German prices move several times a day, so each reading is dated and kept.

Junction by junction, diesel (Mon 2 Nov, 16:07)

Junction areaService areaOff the motorwayPremium
Heilbronn A6/A81€2.80€2.2456 c
Stuttgart A8/A81€2.80€2.2456 c
Bremen A1€2.77€2.2255 c
Köln A1/A3/A4€2.79€2.2455 c
Osnabrück A1/A30€2.78€2.2454 c
Frankfurt A3/A5€2.77€2.2354 c
Freiburg A5€2.78€2.2652 c
Ulm A7/A8€2.75€2.2649 c
Dortmund A1/A2/A45€2.74€2.2648 c
Hannover A2/A7€2.78€2.3345 c
Hamburg-Süd A1/A7€2.64€2.2242 c
München A8/A9/A99€2.71€2.2942 c
Rosenheim A8/A93€2.70€2.2941 c
Kirchheim A4/A7€2.54€2.2331 c
Mannheim A6/A61€2.52€2.2428 c
Kassel A7/A44€2.49€2.3119 c
Magdeburg A2/A14€2.33€2.267 c
Erfurt A4/A71€2.34€2.313 c
Berlin-Süd A10€2.21€2.210 c

A few service areas price like a town station — the premium is the rule, not universal. Truck stops at the exits (Autohof) count as off the motorway: they are where you save.

“The same Shell again” — who runs the pumps

On OpenStreetMap, every Autobahn service area that names its operator names the same company, Tank & Rast; the fuel stations there carry the oil brands' names. Of the 492 that carry a brand (truck stops excluded):

  • Aral — 153 (31 %)
  • Shell — 136 (28 %)
  • Esso — 65 (13 %)
  • TotalEnergies — 62 (13 %)
  • Eni — 29 (6 %)
  • Avia — 9 (2 %)

So two brands, Aral and Shell, run almost six in ten. The premium is not one brand's: the same brands sell at town prices a few minutes off the motorway. It belongs to the location.

OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), data as of August 2026: fuel stations inside areas tagged as motorway services, excluding those named as an Autohof or truck stop and truck-only pumps; 71 stations carry no brand tag.

What to do about it

  • Leave at a junction with a town or an Autohof sign. In our readings the cheapest station within 25 km of the junction was a median 54 c a litre below the service area — and the typical one 45 c.
  • Plan your fill before the motorway leg: the planner's fuel stops pick the cheapest pump on your way, with the price and the time it was read. Find the cheapest fill near you →