If you operate trucks, equipment, or a diesel shop, you don’t need anyone to tell you that parts, labor, and fuel are some of your biggest expenses. With fuel, a few cents up or down on a gallon of diesel can make or break margins on a lane, a job, or even a whole month.
In this post, we’ll walk through how diesel prices have moved over the last 25 years, then zoom in on what’s happening with diesel fuel right now in 2025 – prices, fuel quality, and what could be coming next.
Diesel Fuel Grades
Before we talk dollars, it helps to know what’s actually in the tank. Diesel fuel grades are generally based on cetane rating, cloud point, and pour point. Here are some of the fuel types available:
Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD)
- Since late 2010, all on-highway diesel in the U.S. has been ULSD (15 ppm sulfur max).
- Lower sulfur helps protect modern aftertreatment systems like the DOC, DPF, and SCR.
- The downside: removing sulfur changes lubricity and cold-flow properties, so additives and good-quality fuel matter more than ever.
Biodiesel Blends (B5, B20, etc.)
- A lot of stations now sell ULSD blended with biodiesel made from vegetable oils or animal fats.
- You’ll usually see this labeled as B5 (up to 5% biodiesel) or B20 (6–20% biodiesel), depending on the region and supplier.
Renewable Diesel
- On the West Coast especially, more pumps are offering renewable diesel.
- It’s made from similar feedstocks as biodiesel (fats and oils), but it’s processed to be chemically similar to regular diesel, so it can be used as a direct drop-in.
The Bottom Line
- In 2025, “diesel” almost always means ULSD, often with some amount of biodiesel or renewable diesel mixed in, depending on your state, terminal, and supplier.
Diesel Prices Through the Years: The Big Picture
If you zoom out from 2000 to today, U.S. on-highway diesel has gone from “cheap but bouncy” to “high and very volatile.”
Early 2000s: The Cheap(er) Years
- Around 2000, national diesel prices were roughly $1.40–$1.65/gal most months.
- Prices climbed gradually in the early 2000s as global oil demand grew.
2010–2014: The $4 Diesel Era
- Once ULSD was fully in place, the 2010s started with relatively expensive fuel.
- From 2011–2014, monthly U.S. ULSD prices commonly sat around $3.80–$4.10/gal.
- For a lot of fleets, this became the “new normal” – high per-mile fuel costs but somewhat predictable.
2015–2019: Mid-$2s to Low-$3s
- As oil markets rebalanced and new production (especially in the U.S.) came online, diesel dropped.
- 2015–2019 generally ran in the mid-$2s to low-$3s per gallon nationally, giving some relief compared to the early 2010s.
2020–2021: COVID Whiplash
- The pandemic hit fuel demand hard.
- In 2020, national diesel averaged roughly $2.40–$2.60/gal most months.
- As the economy reopened, 2021 ramped back up into the $3+ range and kept climbing.
2022: Record-High Diesel
- Supply disruptions, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, pushed diesel to record levels.
- EIA data shows weekly national on-highway diesel peaking around $5.81/gal in June 2022—the highest on record.
- From January to June 2022 alone, U.S. diesel prices jumped about 55%.
- For trucking and construction, that meant brutal fuel surcharges and margin pressure.
2023–2024: Still High, Slowly Easing
- Prices came off the 2022 peak but stayed elevated.
- 2023 monthly averages mostly sat in the $4.00–$4.60/gal range.
- 2024 improved somewhat, with monthly averages sliding from roughly $4.00/gal early in the year to the mid-$3.50s by year-end.
- This set the stage for a (slightly) friendlier 2025.
Where Diesel Prices Sit in 2025
Looking at EIA’s national data for 2025 (through November):
- Monthly averages have ranged roughly from $3.50 to $3.82 per gallon.
- As of early December 2025, the weekly national average sits around $3.76/gal, down from about $3.87 just a couple of weeks earlier, but still higher than late 2024.
That’s a long way down from 2022’s $5-plus diesel, but it’s not “cheap” by pre-COVID standards.
Quarterly Averages and EIA Forecast
The EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook and related reporting show:
- Q1 2025: Avg. around $3.63/gal
- Q2 2025: Avg. about $3.55/gal
- Q3 2025: Back up to roughly $3.76/gal
- Q4 2025: Around $3.69–$3.75/gal
For the full year, current forecasts put 2025’s average U.S. on-highway diesel price around $3.6–$3.7/gal, slightly lower than 2024’s ~$3.76/gal, and well below 2022.
What’s in a Gallon: Cost Breakdown
EIA’s “Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update” shows what you’re really paying for in a gallon of diesel:
- Crude oil: ~40–45% of the pump price
- Refining: ~20–25%
- Distribution & marketing: ~20%
- Taxes: ~15–20%
That means even when crude drops, local taxes, refinery issues, and distribution bottlenecks can keep your diesel bill stubbornly high.
How Highway and Heavy Parts Can Help You Fight Fuel Costs
You can’t control diesel prices, but you can control how efficiently your engine burns every gallon.
At Highway and Heavy Parts, we stock a wide range of diesel fuel system components – fuel injectors, pumps, lines, filters, and more – to help you:
- Improve fuel economy and performance
- Cut down on smoke, hard starts, and rough idle
- Protect your injectors and fuel system from contamination
If you’re seeing poor mileage, power loss, or fuel-related trouble codes, it’s often cheaper to fix the fuel system now than to keep feeding an inefficient engine expensive diesel.
Shop Diesel Fuel System Parts Here:
https://highwayandheavyparts.com/product-category/shop-hhp-diesel-parts-all-fuel-system/
