Billig Tanken

What is Billig Tanken?

Billig Tanken shows you the most current fuel prices in Germany and Austria. The data is based on Bundeskartellamt Markttransparenzstelle für Kraftstoffe (Germany) and E-Control Spritpreisrechner (Austria) and on community provided data.

Billig Tanken offers features like color coding of prices and data quality, favorite gas stations, search at different locations, exact travel distances, map display and navigation.

Why do I need Billig Tanken?

The E-Control Spritpreisrechner application shows only 5 results, which is very limited. Billig Tanken shows many more results, and will always include your favorite gas stations. Finding the best gas station for you never has been easier.

How does Billig Tanken work?

The main screen of Billig Tanken always shows you the gas stations near you (based on your current location), including any favorites you have selected. The following information is shown for each gas station:

  • Name: the name of the gas station
  • Address: the address of the gas station
  • Distance: the distance of the gas station (travel distance and travel time) - you can choose between estimated distances and exact distances by setting the appropriate option
  • Price per Liter: the fuel price per liter
  • Price per Tank: the overall price for filling the tank - this price also takes the travel distance to the gas station into account
 
The sort order of the result list (and several other options affecting the results) can be changed in the settings. A star on the left side indicates selected favorites.

There are different color codes in order to help you finding the ideal gas station for you:

  • Background Color: indicates the age of the official price announcement by the gas station (green <3h, yellow <12h, red <24h, gray >24h)
  • Price Color: indicates if prices are cheap, medium or expensive among all entries in the list (green is cheap, yellow is medium, red is expensive) - This logic applies to price per liter as well as to price per tank
  • Text Color: a gray text color indicates that the gas station is currently closed

Showing a gas station on the map or navigating to a gas station

You can show a gas station on the map or start navigating to the gas station by simply clicking on it (dependent on the configuration).

Both options are also available via the context menu (long press the item and select "Show on map" or "Navigate there").
 

Adding favorites

Add a gas station as favorite via the star icon or via the context menu (long press the item and select "Add as favorite").

Fuel prices of favorites are always up-to-date, since they get updated with most recent data during a each manual update and each automatic background update.

Note, that favorites are automatically deleted, if there is no price update for 30 days.

Removing favorites

Remove a gas station as favorite via the star icon or via the context menu (long press the item and select "Remove as favorite").

Updating the Result List

The result list automatically gets updated according to the foreground time interval setting.

You can update the list manually at any time via the refresh icon in the menu.

Searching Gas Stations at Different Locations

You can search gas stations at any arbitrary location via the menu "Search at Location". Just enter the location (as you would do e.g. in Google Maps).

The search is limited to either Germany or Austria, so in most cases in it sufficient to enter a city name or a postal code.

Settings

Fuel

  • Fuel Type Germany: choose between Diesel, E5 or E10
  • Fuel Type Austria: choose between Diesel or Super 95
  • Tank Volume: the average tank amount, which is used to calculate the overall price in the result list
  • Consumption: the average consumption, which is used to calculate the additional cost of driving to the gas station (and back) - this is also used to calculate the overall price in the result list

Results

  • Search Radius (Bee-Line): specifies the maximum distance (bee-line) for the gas station search
  • Number of Results: specifies the maximum number of results
  • Sort Order: choose between price/liter, price/tank and travel time - at home price/tank might be your favorite option
  • Favorites on Top: if turned on, the favorites are always shown on top of the result list
  • Favorites for Manual Searches: if turned on, the favorites are also shown on top of the result list for manual searches
  • Only Open Gas Stations: if turned on, only gas stations that are currently open are shown in the result list
  • Exact Distances: if turned on, Billig Tanken updates the estimated distances with exact distances from Google Directions in a second step (i.e. you will first see the estimated distances, and after a short time these will be updated with exact distances) - exact distances are not being calculated during automatic background updates
  • Click Action: choose between showing gas station on map or navigating to gas station

Results while Travelling

While travelling (current speed exceeds a specified limit), Billig Tanken can use different result list options. The meaning of the options is identical to those before.

  • Travelling Mode Speed: above the specified speed, Billg Tanken switches to travelling mode
  • Sort Order: choose between price/liter, price/tank and travel time - when travelling the travel time might be a good option to find the nearest gas station
  • Favorites on Top: if turned on, the favorites are always shown on top of the result list
  • Only Open Gas Stations: if turned on, only gas stations that are currently open are shown in the result list
  • Exact Distances: if turned on, Billig Tanken updates the estimated distances with exact distances from Google Directions in a second step (i.e. you will first see the estimated distances, and after a short time these will be updated with exact distances) - exact distances are not being calculated during automatic background updates

Automatic Updates

  • Background: the time interval for automatic background updates - in the Free version this is limites to 3 hours or less. Note, that automatic background updates do not use GPS. 
  • Foreground: the time interval for automatic foreground updates (to keep the displayed result list current - this is useful for finding the best gas station while travelling). Note, that if foreground updates are enabled, Billig Tanken keeps the screen of your device always on.

Widget

  • Prefer Favorites: if turned on, the widget shows the best price of your favorite gas stations (except you have no favorite defined), otherwise the widget shows the best price of all found gas stations
 
Note, that various settings are not enabled in the Free version.

Widget

You can add a widget of Billig Tanken to your home screen. The widget shows the data of the gas station with the cheapest price per liter. Alternatively, it can show the data of the cheapest favorite gas station (by changing the setting "Prefer Favorites"). Tap on the widget, to start the main application.

The widget data gets updated whenever Billig Tanken retrieves new data, either by the automatic background update, or manually triggered.

Differences between Full and Free version

The main advantages of the Full version are:

  • Background update interval can be more than 3 hours
  • No ads

In the Free version the background update interval is limited to 3 hours or less. Ads are shown.

FAQs & Troubleshooting

Network traffic

Note, that Billig Tanken causes some network traffic, that is dependent on certain factors:

  • Number of Favorites: Billig Tanken needs to get data for every favorite separately - this causes approximately 15 kB network traffic per favorite and update
  • Exact Distances: exact distances are retrieved from Google Directions - this causes approximately 3 kB network traffic per gas station and update
  • Background Update: the background update retrieves data for the current location and for all favorites - this causes approximately 15 kB network traffic per location and update
  • Getting Results: retrieving the gas stations for the result list causes approximately 0.5 kB network traffic per gas station and update

A typical scenario with 3 favorites and a background update time interval of 2 hours creates approximately 19.5 MB background network traffic per month. A typical complete foreground update with this scenario and 25 results with exact distances creates approximately 180 kB network traffic.

Getting position

Billig Tanken tries to obtain a position via GPS or WiFi. If it is not possible to get a position with sufficient accuracy within 30 seconds, no update based on the current location will take place.

Note, that GPS is only used during obtaining the position.

Results

In Austria the result list contains at least the 5 results you would get from the E-Control Spritpreisrechner, but also contains community provided data.

It might be necessary to tweak the search radius dependent on your location (smaller search radius in urban centers, bigger search radius in the countryside).