simpliRange Is Live in Early Form: Try the EV Road-Trip Planner Built for Thai Roads and Tell Us Where It’s Wrong

A few days ago we published an idea for an EV road-trip planner for Thailand and asked whether drivers would use it. Since then we’ve built a first working version. It’s early, and we’d like you to try it and break it.

Open it here: simplirange.simplico.net. It runs in your phone or laptop browser. There’s nothing to install and no account to create.

What you can do today

You tell simpliRange about your car and your trip, then ask it to plan:

• Pick your car. Nine cars are listed, each marked Checked, with battery size, DC charging power and weight: BYD Atto 3 Extended, Tesla Model Y RWD, ORA Good Cat 57.7 kWh, BYD Dolphin Extended Range, BYD Seal Premium, BYD Sealion 7 Premium, Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range, Zeekr X Standard RWD, Xpeng G6 Standard RWD. Not there? Type a model to search a community list of about 700 more cars, or use Add my EV to enter your own.
• Set your starting battery. A slider for the charge you leave with, defaulting to 80%.
• Say who and what is in the car. Passengers (1 to 9), luggage in kilograms, and whether the air-con is on. These are the things that quietly eat range on a hot Thai highway.
• Choose your departure time in Bangkok time.
• Set A and B on a map. Search for a place by name (Thai or English, such as "Khao Yai" or "เขาใหญ่"), tap the map, pick a quick place like Bangkok, Chanthaburi, Khao Yai or Hua Hin, or use your current location.
• Tap Plan trip.

The page works in Thai, English, Japanese and Chinese. Switch language at the top.

What "Checked" means, and what happens with other cars

The nine listed cars carry a Checked label. The roughly 700 cars in the community list do not: their specs haven’t been verified. For a car with unverified specs, the app says so and applies a wider safety margin to its estimates. We’d rather it be cautious than leave you at 3% on a hill. If you drive one of those cars and know its real-world numbers, tell us. That’s one of the most useful things you can send.

Where the data comes from

We want to be clear about this, because charging data is the hardest part of the whole idea. The app credits its sources at the bottom of the page:

• Map and places: OpenStreetMap contributors, with map tiles from Protomaps.
• Charger locations: Open Charge Map, a community-maintained database.
• Weather: Open-Meteo.

Open and community data is a good starting point, but it can be out of date. A charger on the map may have moved, closed or changed connectors. We are not scraping operator apps, and we won’t present a guess as live status.

What it doesn’t do (yet)

• It doesn’t start or pay for a charge. You’d still use the operator’s own app at the charger.
• It doesn’t know whether a charger is free or working right now. Live status needs operators to agree to share it. We’ve written about what that involves, and it’s work we already do for operators through our charging station management systems.
• It isn’t a guarantee. Treat a plan as a well-informed estimate, and keep a backup in mind on any long leg.

Help us test it

The best test is a real trip. Here’s how to help, in order of effort:

1. Plan a trip you’ve already driven. Compare the plan with what actually happened. Where did the estimate say you’d arrive with 20% and you really had 8%?
2. Plan a trip you’re about to drive, then tell us afterwards how close it was.
3. Add your own car if it isn’t listed, and tell us what you know about its real consumption.
4. Tell us what confused you. If a screen made you stop and think, that’s a bug in our design, not in your reading.

Send feedback to hello@simplico.net with the subject "simpliRange feedback", or message us on LINE at iiitum1984. If you’d like us to review a route by hand before you drive it, send your car model, route and rough date with the subject "simpliRange trip test".

Run a charging network? If you’d consider sharing live charger availability with a driver app, write to the same address with the subject "simpliRange operator".

We’ll publish what we learn from the testing, including the places where we got it wrong.

FAQ

Is simpliRange free to use?
Yes, during this early testing period. We haven’t decided on pricing, and we’d like to hear what you’d consider fair.

Do I need to create an account or install an app?
No. Open the link in your browser.

Which cars are supported?
Nine cars are marked Checked: BYD Atto 3 Extended, Tesla Model Y RWD, ORA Good Cat 57.7 kWh, BYD Dolphin Extended Range, BYD Seal Premium, BYD Sealion 7 Premium, Volvo EX30 Single Motor Extended Range, Zeekr X Standard RWD, Xpeng G6 Standard RWD. You can also search a community list of about 700 more cars, which aren’t checked, or add your own EV. We’ll grow the checked list based on what testers drive.

Why does it say my car’s specs aren’t verified?
Cars from the community list haven’t been checked against an official source. For those, the app widens its safety margin so its estimates stay on the cautious side.

Does it show live charger availability?
Not yet. Charger locations come from open community data, which can be out of date. Live status depends on operators sharing it.

Can it start or pay for charging?
No. It plans the trip. You start and pay in the operator’s app.

Is it available in English?
Yes, and in Thai, Japanese and Chinese.

Who is behind this?
Simplico, a software engineering studio based in Thailand. We build charging station management systems for operators, and simpliRange is our first product for the people doing the driving.

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