Which electric car gets closest to its official range in winter – and which is farthest away?

Last summer, What Car? drove 10 of the latest electric cars until they died to find out how realistic the official (WLTP) range figures are. But now we've repeated the test in winter conditions, when batteries should be at their least efficient.

For obvious reasons, it wouldn’t have been safe to deliberately run the cars out of charge on a public road, so instead we used our private test track, devising a route that comprised 2.6 miles of simulated stop-start urban driving, four miles at a steady 50mph and eight miles at a 70mph cruise, to replicate motorway journeys.

Each of the 10 cars was fully charged and left outside for 15 hours, before being plugged in again to check the batteries were still at 100%. They then had their climate control systems set to 21deg C and were driven until they ran flat, with driver swaps at the end of each lap, and the cars’ positions on the road also changed to ensure no contender was constantly punching a hole in the air for the others.

We tested everything from the Fiat 500 city car and MG 5 budget estate to the Porsche Taycan performance car and the brand-new Tesla Model Y SUV.

So, which models got closest to their official averages, and which were farthest away?

Official (WLTP) range 198 miles
Test range 118 miles
Shortfall 40.0%

It was hardly a shock that the car with the smallest battery, the Fiat 500, ground to a halt first. But what was disappointing was that it fell a whopping 40% short of its official average.

More positively, the 500's efficiency worked out at 3.2 miles per kilowatt hour (kWh), whereas the average across the 10 cars tested was 3.0.

Official (WLTP) range 379 miles
Test range 247 miles
Shortfall 34.6%

The Ford Mustang Mach-E was the second farthest away from its official average in our real-world winter range test, suffering a 34.6% shortfall.

However, thanks to its huge, 88.0kWh battery (the biggest here) the Mustang Mach-E went third farthest overall – almost 250 miles on a charge.

Official (WLTP) range 250 miles
Test range 167 miles
Shortfall 33.1%

The MG 5 is cheap by electric car standards and gives you a lot of space for your money, but it fell 33.1% short of its official average in our test, putting it third from bottom on this list.

In terms of efficiency, the MG 5 managed 2.9 miles per kWh, which is just below the average of 3.0 across the 10 cars tested.

Official (WLTP) range 290 miles
Test range 201 miles
Shortfall 30.6%

The Audi Q4 e-tron was the least efficient car in the test, averaging just 2.6 miles for every kWh of energy used.

On the plus side, the Q4 e-tron still achieved a range that many potential buyers will consider perfectly usable: 201 miles.

Official (WLTP) range 328 miles
Test range 228 miles
Shortfall 30.4%

The 3.1 miles per kWh that the Kia EV6 achieved means it's almost as efficient as the Fiat 500, despite being a much larger car.

However, its 228-mile winter range is still 30.4% less than its official average, which is only good enough for sixth place on this list.

Official (WLTP) range 249 miles
Test range 174 miles
Shortfall 29.8%

There are versions of the Skoda Enyaq iV with bigger batteries, but it's this 58.0kWh model that's easiest to recommend, because it's very temptingly priced for such a big, practical electric car.

The 174 miles that it covered before coming to a halt is also within 30% of its official range, which puts the Enyaq in fifth place.

Official (WLTP) range 331 miles
Test range 247 miles
Shortfall 25.2%

Few cars received as much hype before their launch as the Tesla Model Y, but it just misses out on a podium place here.

The Model Y managed a very respectable 247 miles, but that's still 25.2% short of its average in the official WLTP government test.

Official (WLTP) range 374 miles
Test range 281 miles
Shortfall 24.8%

Instead, it's the saloon sister of the Model Y, the Tesla Model 3, that takes third spot, aided by its greater efficiency: 3.7 miles/kWh instead of 3.3 miles/kWh.

As a bonus, the Model 3 went farther on a charge in cold weather – 281 miles – than any of the other cars tested.

Official (WLTP) range 282 miles
Test range 212 miles
Shortfall 24.7%

Next up is the recently facelifted BMW iX3, which got ever so slightly closer to its official average than the Model 3.

However, the 212 miles that the iX3 managed before its battery ran flat is 69 miles behind the Model 3's total.

Official (WLTP) range 287 miles
Test range 224 miles
Shortfall 21.8%

Finally, the car that got closest to its official average was the Porsche Taycan, but not by efficient use of energy; only the Q4 e-tron travelled fewer miles per kWh.

Then again, the Taycan is an incredibly capable performance car, with fat, sticky tyres and acceleration that can embarrass even the Tesla Model 3, so that’s hardly surprising.

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