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Electric car sales are set to boom over the next few years in the UK and across the world. Currently there a few barriers preventing mass adoption of the cars including the typically higher price. However, the biggest concerns for most drivers are related to range and charging. A lot of motorists still perceive that electric cars wouldn’t be able to replace a petrol or diesel car and don’t have enough range to be useable in the real world. While this may have been the case for some high mile drivers or for older EVs, there are now a handful of long-range electric cars on offer.

Tesla Model 3


However, there is often a disparity between quoted manufacturer range and real-world figures with you often achieving less useable mileage. In a bid to get a more useable and realistic estimate of real-world range WhatCar? has created a real-world range test to try and find out which EVs have the best and worst range. The methodology behind the test has been explained to ensure that it is a fair test from car to car. They start by draining the battery to point it can no longer be driven anymore and this it is refilled by a modified charging point which has a built-in meter to measure the energy in kWh it takes to fully recharge the car, in an air-conditioned room to ensure that a consistent temperature is maintained throughout the test.

Audi e tron


Tyre pressures are also checked to ensure they are at manufacturer limits before the road driving takes place. To make sure tests are far throughout the cars are only test when the ambient temperature is between 10 and 15 degrees Celsius and always with a person in the driver and front passenger seat. The interior temperature is also set at 21 degrees when the car is plugged in and the normal driving mode is selected and standard regeneration is selected. Testing is conducted on the firm’s private test track around a 19.4-mile track which has a mi of stop-start traffic, rural and motorways which is driven twice for cars with a 60kWh battery and three times for 100kWh battery packs.

BMW i3

After the test is done the car is plugged back in and the amount of energy it recites to recharge is noted down. The most recent car to go through the real world range test was the Tesla Model 3, but has it taken the top spot? Tesla’s Model 3 actually took the fourth spot with the car achieving 239-miles on a single charge. At the top of the list was the Hyundai Kona Electric 64kWh which achieved an impressive 259-miles of charge followed by the Jaguar I Pace which managed 253-miles. An impressive six different cars managed to achieve over 200-miles on a single charge and 14 cars managed over 100-miles on a charge. The cars with the lowest real-world range, as per the test results, was the Smart Forfour EQ and Smart Fortwo EQ Cabrio, managing 57 miles and 59-miles respectively.

Tesla Model S and Model X

Electric car real world range 18. Smart Forfour EQ

Real Range: 57 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.9

Full charge cost: £2.42*

Cost per mile: £0.042 17. Smart Fortwo EQ Cabrio

Real Range: 59 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.9

Full charge cost: £2.43

Cost per mile: £0.042 16. Volkswagen e-Up

Real Range: 66 miles

Miles per kWh: 3.5

Full charge cost: £2.28

Cost per mile: £0.035 =14. Hyundai Ioniq Electric

Real Range: 117 miles

Miles per kWh: 3.9

Full charge cost: £3.57

Cost per mile: £0.030

Kia eNiro

=14. Volkswagen e-Golf

Real Range: 117 miles

Miles per kWh: 3.3

Full charge cost: £4.27

Cost per mile: £0.036 13. BMW i3 94Ah

Real Range: 121 miles

Miles per kWh: 3.1

Full charge cost: £4.67

Cost per mile: £0.038 12. Nissan Leaf

Real Range: 128 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.8

Full charge cost: £5.40

Cost per mile: £0.042 11. Renault Zoe Q90

Real Range: 132 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.7

Full charge cost: £5.80

Cost per mile: £0.044

Jaguar I Pace

10. Renault Zoe R110

Real Range: 146 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.9

Full charge cost: £6.03

Cost per mile: £0.041 9. Hyundai Kona Electric 39kWh

Real Range: 158 miles

Miles per kWh: 3.6

Full charge cost: £5.27

Cost per mile: £0.033 8. BMW i3 120Ah

Real Range: 165 miles

Miles per kWh: 3.3

Full charge cost: £6.94

Cost per mile: £0.042 7. Audi E-tron

Real Range: 196 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.0

Full charge cost: £13.43

Cost per mile: £0.069 6. Tesla Model S 75D

Real Range: 204 miles

Miles per kWh: 2.4

Full charge cost: £10.09

Cost per mile: £0.049

Hyundai Kona Electric