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One by one, the barriers to electric car ownership are being removed, as charging infrastructure improves, costs come down and the cars themselves become as luxurious as conventional models. But what about range anxiety?
For all the improvements, this nagging concern that the battery will run flat before you get to where you’re going continues to put many people off.
It doesn’t help that you don’t really know how far you’ll be able to go, given that official figures are unrealistic. So, What Car? is now putting every electric car through a Real Range test that reflects the way people actually drive and allows direct comparisons.
You can find out more about how we work out each car’s Real Range here, but below we count down all of our results from worst to best. Prices listed are the lowest On-The-Road price in the model’s range, complete with What Car?'s Target Price - the price we think you'll pay in the marketplace. At the end we'll also tell you which cars are the cheapest top operate in an energy-per-mile sense:
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HOW DO WE TEST REAL RANGE?
1. We fully deplete the battery.
2. We measure the energy (in kWh) required to fully recharge the battery.
3. We leave the car overnight in an air-conditioned garage set to 18deg C.
4. We check the tyre pressures to ensure they match the manufacturer’s recommendations.
5. We only test when the ambient air temperature is between 10 and 15deg C.
6. Tests are always conducted with a driver and front passenger, or with the car ballasted accordingly.
7. The climate control is set to 21deg C while the car is plugged in, and it’s only unplugged once the interior is up to temperature. The climate control is left at the same level for the remainder of the test with headlights switched on.
9. If the car has multiple driving modes, ‘normal’ is selected, along with the minimum level of regenerative braking.
10. All driving is done at What Car?’s private test track. The 19.4-mile route simulates a mix of stop-start urban traffic, rural roads and motorways. This route is driven twice for cars with batteries that accept more than 60kWh during the preparation stage and three times for cars with batteries that accept more than 100kWh.
11. Consistent driving is ensured by the use of a Racelogic Route Profiler, which records speed on a second-by-second basis.
12. At the end of the test, the car is plugged back in and the energy required to return
its battery to full is measured.
13. Knowing the kWh required for the test route and for a full recharge from flat enables us to calculate the Real Range.
So of the electric cars currently on sale, which cars do the best in our Real Range test? We start with the lowest real-world range and make our way to the highest:
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13: SMART FORFOUR EQ - REAL RANGE 57 MILES
Full charge cost: £2.42
Cost per mile: £0.042
Purchase price: from £21,690
What Car? Target price: from £21,690
With an 80bhp electric motor, the Forfour EQ feels much quicker than its 0-62mph time of 12.7sec would suggest. Plus, it handles well because the bulk of its weight is positioned lower down than in the petrol models.
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13: SMART FORFOUR EQ - REAL RANGE 57 MILES
Sadly, the electric ForFour can travel just 57 miles between charges – the worst Real Range figure of any car we’ve tested.
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12: SMART FORTWO EQ CABRIO - REAL RANGE 59 MILES
Full charge cost: £2.43
Cost per mile: £0.042
Purchase price: from £23,335
What Car? Target price: from £23,335
The two-seater Fortwo travelled two miles farther than the four-seater Forfour, but range anxiety is still likely to be a very real problem.
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12: SMART FORTWO EQ CABRIO - REAL RANGE 59 MILES
It’s a shame, because the EQ is cheaper to run and better to drive than any conventional Fortwo.
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10=: HYUNDAI IONIQ ELECTRIC - REAL RANGE 117 MILES
Full charge cost: £3.57
Cost per mile: £0.030
Purchase price: from £26,745
What Car? Target price: from £25,339
The Ioniq is really three cars in one; it’s available as a conventional hybrid, a plug-in hybrid and a fully electric car. In the latter form it has a Real Range of just 117 miles, but enough torque to make for brisk acceleration around town.
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10=: HYUNDAI IONIQ ELECTRIC - REAL RANGE 117 MILES
The Ioniq also benefits from a smart interior, and our recommended Premium trim gets sat-nav and heated front seats as standard. However, the ride is unsettled at low speeds.
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10=: VOLKSWAGEN E-GOLF - REAL RANGE 117 MILES
Full charge cost: £4.27
Cost per mile: £0.036
Purchase price: from £29,230
What Car? Target price: from £29,230
Unlike purpose-built electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf, the e-Golf is based on a conventional hatchback. However, this is no bad thing because it means it has most of the good points of the regular Golf, along with greatly reduced running costs.
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10=: VOLKSWAGEN E-GOLF - REAL RANGE 117 MILES
What lets the e-Golf down is the distance it can go on a full charge, with it limited to the same 117 miles as the Ioniq in real-world driving.
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9: BMW I3 94AH - REAL RANGE 121 MILES
Full charge cost: £4.67
Cost per mile: £0.038
Purchase price: from £34,445
What Car? Target price: from £31,480
The i3 is a prestige electric hatchback whose futuristic styling helped it to stand out from the crowd when it was launched in 2014.
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9: BMW I3 94AH - REAL RANGE 121 MILES
Its relatively high price and impractical rear door arrangement mean it hasn’t been a class leader for some time, but a larger battery that promises a longer range is about to be introduced.
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8: NISSAN LEAF - REAL RANGE 128 MILES
Full charge cost: £5.40
Cost per mile: £0.042
Purchase price: from £26,190
What Car? Target price: from £23,109
In its first iteration, the Leaf became the world’s best-selling electric car, while we crowned the second-generation version as our Electric Car of the Year for its punchy performance, generous safety kit and big boot.
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8: NISSAN LEAF - REAL RANGE 128 MILES
Its range in official WLTP tests is 168 miles, but our Real Range figure shows that 128 miles is more realistic.
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7: RENAULT ZOE R110 - REAL RANGE 146 MILES
Full charge cost: £6.03
Cost per mile: £0.041
Purchase price: from £18,420
What Car? Target price: from £14,746
The Zoe was one of the first mass-market electric cars and set out to prove that zero-emissions motoring could be both practical and cheap.
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7: RENAULT ZOE R110 - REAL RANGE 146 MILES
You can either lease the Zoe’s battery on a monthly basis or buy the whole car outright; do the former and it’s one of the most recommendable electric cars around, with a long range and low running costs.
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6: HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 39KWH - REAL RANGE 158 MILES
Full charge cost: £5.27
Cost per mile: £0.033
Purchase price: from £29,495
What Car? Target Price: from £25,995
Hyundai’s small electric SUV is offered with 134 or 201bhp, but even in its less powerful form it outperformed all but one of its mainstream rivals, with a Real Range of 158 miles.
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6: HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 39KWH - REAL RANGE 158 MILES
The Kona also has a smart interior, sophisticated infotainment system and fine driving position on its side.
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5: TESLA MODEL S 75D - REAL RANGE 204 MILES
Full charge cost: £10.09
Cost per mile: £0.049
Purchase price: from £73,505
What Car? Target Price: from £73,505
The Model S transformed the image of electric vehicles when it arrived in 2014. A luxury car with plenty of space for five adults, it’s also capable of sports car performance and has a long range.
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5: TESLA MODEL S 75D - REAL RANGE 204 MILES
It can be charged at home in an average of 11 hours, while Tesla’s Superchargers will do you 80% in half an hour.
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5: TESLA MODEL X 100D - REAL RANGE 233 MILES
Full charge cost: £13.67
Cost per mile: £0.059
Purchase price: from £88,105
What Car? Target Price: from £88,105
Tesla's sporty yet plush Model X was the first prestige electric SUV. A practical seven-seat rival to the Audi Q7, it gets a four-star overall rating from us.
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5: TESLA MODEL X 100D - REAL RANGE 233 MILES
The 100D variant that we put through our Real Range test represents the mid-point in the Model X line-up.
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3=: KIA E-NIRO 64KWH - REAL RANGE 253 MILES
Full charge cost: £8.74
Cost per mile: £0.035
Purchase price: from £30,000 (estd.) - available from February 2019
What Car? Target Price: N/A
The most interesting thing about this new SUV is that its range is one of the most impressive yet, and only matched by its sister car, the Hyundai Kona Electric. It also uses the same electric motor as the Kona, making it very quick. When we first drove it, we were taken aback by just how urgent and rapid it feels, delivering its power more like a sports car than a Niro hybrid.
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3=: KIA E-NIRO 64KWH - REAL RANGE 253 MILES
It allows you to progress through traffic with confidence once you’ve learned how light you need to be with your right foot to avoid spinning the front wheels. The steering has a nice weight and consistency to it too but don’t expect a cushy ride; the e-Niro tends to thump over bumps instead of isolating its occupants from them.
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3=: JAGUAR I-PACE - REAL RANGE 253 MILES
Full charge cost: £11.87
Cost per mile: £0.047
Purchase price: from £63,495
What Car? Target price: £59,995
The I-Pace took a landslide victory in the 2018 What Car? Reader Award, and has since lived up to the anticipation, mixing show-stopping looks, space for four adults, a Real Range of 253 miles and entertaining handling.
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3=: JAGUAR I-PACE - REAL RANGE 253 MILES
From the latest 150kW public chargers, it can obtain an 80% charge in 46 minutes, although this rises to 85 minutes from the more common 50kW chargers.
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1: HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 64KWH - REAL RANGE 259 MILES
Full charge cost: £8.65
Cost per mile: £0.033
Purchase price: from £33,995
What Car? Target price: from £30,495
A Real Range figure of 259 miles makes the 201bhp (or 64kWh) version of the Kona Electric the best performing car we’ve tested to date.
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1: HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 64KWH - REAL RANGE 259 MILES
It’s the first sensibly priced electric car that won’t require the majority of motorists to adjust their lifestyle in order to live with it, especially when you factor in the UK’s rapidly improving charging infrastructure.
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ENERGY COST PER MILE
So which cars cost the least in terms of energy-usage-per-mile?
1. HYUNDAI IONIQ ELECTRIC - £0.030
2. HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 64KWH - £0.033
3. HYUNDAI KONA ELECTRIC 39KWH - £0.033
4. KIA E-NIRO 64KWH - £0.035
5. VOLKSWAGEN E-GOLF - £0.036
6. BMW I3 94AH - £0.038
7. RENAULT ZOE R110 - £0.041
8. NISSAN LEAF - £0.042
9. SMART FORTWO EQ CABRIO - £0.042
10. SMART FORFOUR EQ - £0.042
11. JAGUAR I-PACE - £0.047
12. TESLA MODEL S 75D - £0.049
13. TESLA MODEL X 100D - £0.059
Data based on electricity cost of £0.12 per kWh.
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