Early electric cars couldn’t go all that far on a single charge, and the options for topping up their batteries were often limited to draping a three-pin plug out of a kitchen window. But thanks to a decade and a half of battery and motor development, the longest-range electric cars will now match their petrol counterparts for how far they’ll go on a ‘tank’.
The first Nissan Leaf, for example, was an electric car primarily bought by early adopters. It had a 100-mile range and took eight hours to charge from a home socket.
Indeed, some of the cheapest electric cars currently on sale will easily deliver double the range of the original Leaf, and with much faster charging options to boot.
In fact, most entries have cracked the 400-mile barrier and the longest-range electric car on sale in the UK is a Mercedes EQS capable of 442 miles.
The figures we quote here are from the official WLTP testing routine. In real-world use, it’s unlikely that any of these cars will hit these promised figures consistently – although you might get close if you’re feather-footed and a keen hypermiler.
Let’s cut to the chase. Which cars offer the longest range? Read our top 10 list below to find out.
The longest-range electric cars
Range: 481 miles
The jelly-bean styling of Mercedes’ EQ saloons has proven controversial, but it’s largely a case of function over form. The EQS’s drag coefficient of 0.20 makes it the slipperiest car currently in production, and that brings a significant boost to driving range.
In entry-level guise (if a £100,000-plus tech-fest can be called entry-level), badged EQS 450+ AMG Line Premium, it will officially do 481 miles between charges.
That makes it the longest-legged electric car currently sold in the UK. It can be charged at up to 200kW, too, meaning a 10-80% top-up can take as little as half an hour.
Read our Mercedes-Benz EQS review
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No Tesla 3 long range with 390 miles range? Near-bankrupt Fisker at number 3...it's almost criminal you're recommending consumers should invest their money here right now. It's another embarrassing EV list. What's the agenda here, or is it just lazy journalism? Sorry to be harsh, but consumers come here for help and to be informed by the trusted professionals, instead they get served this tripe. Must try harder.
Certainly. A Passat. Cribbs to just South of Edinburgh and back to Cribbs. Little to no traffic. Happy to help.
Petrol or diesel?
And you went there and back without stopping, bit of a pointless journey.
Started reading with interest until I got to this piece of fiction
But thanks to a decade and a half of battery and motor development, the longest-range electric cars will now match their petrol counterparts for how far they’ll go on a ‘tank’.
I regularly get 700 miles plus out of my very ordinary VW, so that's obviously total crap before we even get going, and that's if we drive with no lights, radio, AC or winderscreen wipers. I can see that the future is electric but when people write this type of stuff it puts off fair minded folk.
I would be very interested to hear which model of VW petrol car has a range of 700 miles?