How to Use RangeFit

Most car brochures and websites tell you how a vehicle performs in a perfect vacuum on a flat road with a professional driver who hasn't eaten lunch. RangeFit is different. We use your actual life to see which cars actually fit your needs.

Here is how to get the most out of the tool without pulling your hair out.

Tell us about your drive

Before we look at the future (EVs), we need to look at the now. That means diving into what matters about how you drive around, the places you regularly go, and how much you pay for electricity (even if it's a guess).

It all starts on the home page. Instead of guessing your weekly mileage, tell us where you actually go:

  1. Start with your home address, or something near enough for it to matter. If you plan on sharing this report with friends, family, or the greater internet (because that's something people do), maybe just put the suburb in. It's roughly the same.

  2. Next, enter up to three places you regularly drive to, and how often you're there. Again, it could be the place or just the suburb, and it could be anything:

  • School
  • Work
  • Supermarket
  • Swimming
  • Soccer

Make sure to select how many times a week you're there. We'll calculate there and back as part of our logic. Remember that if you head to school to drop-off and pick-up five days a week, you're technically there ten times, not five.

  1. Now give us a rough price guide of what you'd like to spend. This just puts a cap on the cars in the system. You can also select an EV to start with or use custom variables, but most people just skip the EV choice. Just get to the good stuff, and the let the website do the work, you know?

  2. Finally, set your power price, or also known as what your electricity provider charges you at home. We have a default, and we also have a default petrol price you'll be able to change later, but we use this to show you the "Savings Factor" (aka how much you might save by switching from fossil fuels to electrons).

Click the button and you'll see a report. From there, we have more to talk about.

Check out that report

It wouldn't be a fancy website aimed at making your life easier if we didn't have some fancy report that actually aims to do just that. Pressing that button should get you the fancy report, and it even works day and night (there's a night mode to not destroy your eyes with the blinding light it shines).

The overview

Your EV Suitability Overview will show your Weekly Distance, Estimated Charging Cost, and the savings you could have between electricity and petrol. From here, you can choose a vehicle to view the rest of the report from, using a manufacturer's World Light Vehicle Testing Procedure (WLTP) to roughly work out whether your commute would work with the car's battery.

Select a car and we'll show you the range used and how much battery is left at the end of the month, and it'll keep being useful for the rest of the report.

The costs

In the Costs screen, you'll see our set electricity rate and petrol cost, and how much the difference will roughly be between EV and petrol. There's obviously more to it than that -- not every car works the same way, and some will use more gas per kilometre or mile, whatever measurement you like best -- but this gives you a gauge of the difference.

Maps & Chargers

Your commute needs a map, and here it is. We're putting pen to paper, or even measurements to a map to show your route, and hopefully nearby chargers, as well. You might even fin d a list of cars that can cover that route, as well.

Road Trips

We all have that one trip —- the coast, the mountains, or the parents house -— that makes us nervous about EVs. Test it as an occasional trip, or in this case, a "Road Trip".

RangeFit will tell you if you can make it in one go or if you will need to stop for a coffee while the car fast-charges. It's always good to have a reviver, by the way, if only to recall Dr Karl's awesome ad campaign about micro-sleeps.

In our case, we'll try to highlight how many charges you'll need for one way or roundtrip, and which charging bays you might want to stop at for a good 30 minute break or so.

Your EVs

Finally, we have a list of EVs that could quality, both for battery-electric (EV or BEV), and plug-in hybrid electric with petrol as a backup (PHEV). We're still populating the database, so not every car might be there, but it's growing.

Note that we don't make money from the car manufacturers or even car loan companies. This tool was actually built as a response to car comparison being typically car loan comparison, and having it largely being unhelpful. So this is made to help.

Share the Knowledge

Found a car that you think could fit your life perfectly? Consider sharing it. You will get a unique link to show your partner, your parents, or your skeptical neighbour. Even your friend who has been telling you about the glory of electric vehicles for ages, and is just glad to see you joining the club.

Safety Tip: As we mentioned in our Privacy Policy, if you are sharing publicly, stick to suburbs and towns rather than your exact house number. Keep the mystery alive. No one needs to know exactly where you live.

A few quick tips for the road

The Lead Foot Factor

Our results are estimates based on standard driving. If you drive like you are qualifying for a race, your range will be lower. Weather and hills can also play a part. So can heavy loads in the back, like bringing several bags, suitcases, a 40 kilogram Golden Retriever, and one deflated soccer ball. Weight makes a difference, as does weather. Your mileage may vary. Literally.

PHEVs are Hybrids

If you are looking at a Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), we'll focus on the smaller EV battery, but also try to show you when the petrol engine is likely to kick in. It is the best of both worlds, but can be math-heavy. Don't worry, we handled the heavy lifting for you.

Check the Source

Found a car you love? Click the link to the manufacturer’s site to book a test drive. Always confirm the final specs and pricing with the dealer and your energy retailer before you commit.