- Carwow drove six EVs to see which one had the best real-world range
- Models tested were the BYD Seal, BMW i5, Mercedes EQE, Polestar 2, Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model 3
- One of the six cars achieved 368 miles beating the others, while a different EV managed 94 managed of its claimed WLTP range
It’s difficult to get more than 30 seconds into any conversation about electric cars without the the subject of range cropping up. ICE car buyers never give it a second thought, but when it comes to EVs everyone wants to know what the official range is – and more importantly, how much of that range is genuinely available in real-world driving.
And that’s a question Mat Watson and the Carwow team set out to answer with six new EVs currently available to buy in Europe: the BYD Seal, BMW i5, Mercedes EQE, Polestar 2, newly-facelifted Porsche Taycan and Tesla Model 3. Battery sizes stretched from the Tesla’s 75 kWh to the Porsche’s 97 kWh, while the claimed WLTP range figures started at 362 miles (583 km) for the BMW i5 and topped out at 421 miles (678 km) for the Taycan.
Related: Mercedes And BMW EVs Smash EPA Estimates In EV Range Test, Tesla And Lucid Fall Short
Rather than subject the six to a hyper-clinical test at a private track, the cars were driven on real roads with real traffic situations. The drivers stuck to the legal speed limit at all times and kept each model in the standard driving mode, but used the heater as they liked to stay comfortable. Which means each car didn’t get the exact same treatment, but their experiences were still close enough to make the results valid.
Watson swaps into each of the cars along the way and gives them all a mini review, raging against the BYD’s climate control and infotainment screen and praising the Merc’s lack of road noise. But this test is all about the numbers, and there are plenty of them to chew over.
The Porsche had the biggest battery, the biggest claimed range and also recorded the best real-world range (368 miles / 592 km), but that meant it only achieved 87.5 percent of its claimed WLTP range, and its 3.8 mi/kWh efficiency score was the second-worst here.
BMW’s i5 was dead last with a 3.7 mi/kWh efficiency figure, and only managed 296 miles (476 km) against a claimed 362 miles (583 km), meaning it delivered 82 percent of its official range.
The big winners were the Mercedes EQE and Tesla Model 3, which came close to matching the Porsche’s real-world range (357 miles / 575 km, EQE; 352 miles / 567 km) from smaller batteries. Both also delivered efficiency figures of 4.0 mi/kWh or higher and at least 90 percent of their claimed range.
Of course, getting these numbers meant the drivers had to drive the EVs until they actually ran out of charge, which also threw up some interesting points. The Tesla, for instance, was able to drive for more than 20 additional miles (32 km) after its range indicator was showing zero, but finally shut itself off and applied the parking brake just feet from a charger.
And the BYD driver also found his car immobilized, but after leaving it for a few minutes discovered it had summoned some more energy and was able to creep to a charger.