Free vs Elite Pilot: Which is Right for You?

The jump from Free to Elite Pilot ($4.99/month) is the most common upgrade on WATTSHIP. Here’s exactly what changes.

What you get on Free

Free gives you the tools needed to research and evaluate an import: the EV Database (600+ models), the basic 5-year TCO calculator, the Incentive Mapper (2026 federal and state credits), and The War Room basic vehicle comparison. No ads from Sprint 5.2 onwards.

These tools let you determine whether a vehicle import makes financial sense before spending money on inspections or agents.

What Elite Pilot adds

SOH Insight (3 reports/month) — Full battery health reports. This is the single biggest addition. On an EV purchase, SOH data directly informs your bid price. One bad battery in a $10,000 vehicle can cost $4,000-8,000 to replace. Three SOH checks per month covers most individual importers.

Auction Sheet Decipher (1/month) — AI translation of Japanese inspection sheets. One per month is enough for a single-vehicle purchase cycle.

Climate Watch — Open-Meteo weather overlay for real-range forecasting by climate zone. Particularly valuable for buyers in cold climates (NZ winter, Canadian winter, UK) assessing vehicles rated in temperate Japanese conditions.

TOU Rate Sync — Time-of-use electricity rate integration for optimized EV charging schedules.

Pro-Buyer Protocol — Spec verification guide for auction purchases.

Fair Price Logic — Dealer benchmark pricing for negotiation intelligence.

Commission rate

Free: 4% on marketplace transactions. Elite Pilot: 3.5%. On a $12,000 vehicle, this is $60 saved per transaction — more than the annual plan cost.

The calculation

If you’re evaluating even one EV purchase per year, the math typically favors Elite Pilot: the SOH reports alone prevent costly battery surprises worth multiples of the $4.99/month cost.