How far can you go?

According to tests by WhatCar? magazine, Electric vehicles (EVs) fall short of their claimed WLTP range figures by and average of 15%.

Ten of the latest EVs were put through a real-world range tests and compared with their official figures.

Gold standard

The best performing model was the Porsche Taycan. It is 3% shy of its official 290-mile figure, achieving 281 miles in the test.

The Porsche beat the Mazda MX-30 into second place, with that falling 7.1% short of its quoted 124-mile range. The award winning Fiat 500e was actually farthest away from its official range, 29.2% shy of its 198-mile WLTP figure.

While the Ford’s Mach-E fell 20.2% short of its official figure, the Extended Range version achieved the highest outright test mileage – 379 miles before its battery ran out.

Track and field

The What Car? test took place on a 15-mile route consisting of 2.6 miles of simulated stop-start urban traffic, four miles of steady 50mph driving and eight miles of driving at a constant speed of 70mph, to simulate motorway journeys.

Each of the vehicles was fully charged and left outside for 15 hours, before being fully charged again ahead of the test. The cars were then driven until they ran flat, with on-road position and driver changes at the end of each lap.

Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car?, said: “Range is one of the key criteria for new and used electric car buyers. Our real-world driving test shows that some electric vehicles can get incredibly close to their quoted figures in the real world, while others are farther behind, so it’s important buyers do their research and organise test drives when considering a new electric vehicle.”

What Car? EV range test results