Electric car range lower than manufacturers claim, testing shows

Six popular electric cars tested but all failed to achieve stated range

Electric car range lower than manufacturers claim, testing shows
According to Carwow, five of the six vehicles could keep going for a period of time despite showing an empty battery.

Vehicle manufacturers could be falling short of delivering their claimed electric vehicle range with some achieving just three-quarters of the battery life referred to in marketing campaigns, new research has found.

Carwow tested the actual ranges on some of the most popular electric cars currently available having charged each of the vehicles to 100 per cent and leaving them overnight.

The following day all had over 95 per cent of charge at the start of the test.

The Mercedes EQC was found to have the worst real-world range with just 75 per cent of their estimated total range, managing just 194 miles on one charge – massively down on the claimed 259 miles.

Kia e-Niro was the closest to their initial estimates with a score of 90 per cent, hitting 255 miles in the test which is just 27 fewer than what the company had estimated.

Tesla’s Model 3 scored the highest distance at 270 miles but was down on its target and achieved just 78 per cent of its initial estimate of 348. 

Electric vehicle range test

Make and model Range test achieved (miles) WLTP claimed range (miles) Percentage of claimed
range achieved
Tesla Model 3 270 348 78%
Kia e-Niro 255 282 90%
Jaguar I-PACE 223 292 76%
Nissan Leaf 208 239 87%
Audi e-tron 206 255 81%
Mercedes EQC 194 259 75%

Mat Watson of Carwow said: “On average, only 81 per cent of the manufacturer-claimed range was achieved and, if you allow a battery to run truly flat, electric cars can be difficult to move.

“But that’s a similar figure to the percentage of potential range you’d get in a petrol or diesel car.

“Plus, in the real-world, these cars’ sat-nav systems would direct you to a nearby charging station long before you ground to a halt.”

To keep the test fair all cars were driven in the highest energy-efficient drive setting.

The car’s air-conditioning settings were also set the same across the board and the cruise control was always set to the motorway speed limit.

The cars were driven until they were about to run out of power and were then driven to a charging point until the car stopped.

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