Fuel prices are soaring, but here’s the app that calculates the ‘cheapest way to fill up’

One petrol station sells petrol at 1.96 euros per litre and is 12 km away from where you are. Another sells it at 2 euros and is 4 km away. Which one would you choose to fill your car’s 30-litre tank? The second one is the more economical option because, although the petrol is more expensive, the distance is shorter and so the journey to the petrol station results in lower fuel consumption.

Yet many apps would recommend the former, as they are based on prices per litre. This is not the case with prezzicarburante.app, the website that estimates the ‘cheapest full-tank fill-up’, whilst also taking into account factors such as the fuel needed for the return journey and the actual route to be travelled – not the distance as the crow flies. And it does so instantly, ensuring a ‘simple and very enjoyable’ user experience – as its creator described it.

prezzicarburante.app covers 22,393 petrol stations across Italy, reporting the official prices as communicated by the Ministry. The Ministry is required by law to ‘update the database with the prices reported by petrol station operators every eight days or whenever the price of fuel rises. This is precisely why the website guarantees a high level of accuracy, with data that is constantly updated’, explains its creator, Davide Baraldo. A few days ago – following popular demand – a feature was also introduced to report petrol stations where fuel has run out. Given the strikes, this information is particularly sought after in the South. But what is the actual benefit the app can offer in terms of savings? “When I created it, there were no caps on fuel prices and the saving on a full tank – based on my own experience – could range from 10 to 15 euros,” explains Baraldo.

Davide Baraldo, aged 27, is a computer science student at the University of Padua. The idea for this app came from his everyday life: ‘I bought a car – a really bad time to do so. I started using apps to compare petrol prices, but often, once I got to the petrol station, I’d find the prices were different.” This was followed by a period of research and then the design of a demo to be tested by friends and family. On 28 September, the app was launched publicly, accessible via a website. The Android app is currently in testing on Google Play, and the iPhone version, with CarPlay support, is on its way. Whilst we wait, there have been a huge number of requests to access the app, which can be done by providing an email address.

prezzicarburante.app is free, says the young man, because ‘I don’t want to give advertisers users’ data’ and because adverts would spoil the interface, which he wants to be ‘clean and simple’. However, there is a page where users can make donations, which have come in ‘quite unexpectedly’. Baraldo says he has reinvested that money in his project, using it to purchase an App Store licence and a new server. The 27-year-old is also reportedly considering adding a feature allowing users to report prices themselves, to minimise inaccuracies, and a function to synchronise with CarPlay, so that vehicle data is automatically recorded in the app. One of the things Baraldo likes most is that ‘a community is forming: they give me advice and point out errors’. And this has come about in less than a month.