Revealed: How far electric cars fall short of their advertised range…where does YOUR vehicle rank?

Electric vehicle drivers may feel they have been ripped off after tests revealed some vehicles have significantly shorter ranges than advertised.

Measures taken by What Car? The magazine found that some of the latest electric vehicles (EVs) have up to a third less battery life than official figures advertised in brochures and online suggest.

They found that when cars are driven in real-world conditions, especially in colder temperatures, their batteries drain faster.

Some cars showed a battery deficit of about 40 percent – or 100 miles – of what was advertised.

But which models showed the most important shortcomings? And which ones had the best results?

MailOnline has ranked each electric vehicle below based on its performance in real-world research.

Electric cars have up to a third less battery life than advertised when driven in real-world conditions, according to research (file photo)

Official figures provided by car manufacturers on how many miles an electric vehicle can travel on a full charge are based on a standardized test carried out in warm conditions (file photo)

On average, the range of electric cars was 29.9 per cent less than advertised, with the £57,000 Lexus UX 300e Takumi recording the biggest shortfall – 100 miles short of its official figure of 273 miles.

The most expensive electric car tested, a £74,000 Lexus RZ 450e Takumi, recorded a battery deficit of 36.7 per cent, which is the second most significant of the twelve cars analysed, going flat after 159 miles when it was announced that reaches 251.

The Volkswagen ID 7 Pro Match, priced at £51,550, had an actual range of 254 miles, 33.6 per cent less than claimed and the third highest deficit overall.

However, the best performer of the 12 cars tested was the £68,810 Mercedes-Benz EQE 300 Sport Edition. This model also had the largest battery at 89.0 kWh.

The car’s battery died after 300 miles, but this was still a 21 percent shortfall from what had originally been advertised.

Steve Huntingford, editor of What Car? The magazine said the cars were driven continuously on a test route of about 15 miles, after being charged to 100 percent and then left outside overnight, for 14 hours, in temperatures of 6°C to 10°C.

The route also includes 2.6 miles of simulated stop-and-go urban driving, four miles at a constant speed of 50 mph and eight miles at a constant speed of 70 mph.

The car’s climate control was set to 21°C and its headlights were switched to low beam for the test drive, with driver changes and a running order switch included at the end of each lap to ensure fairness.

The £57,000 Lexus UX 300e Takumi posted the biggest deficit – 100 miles short of its official figure of 273 miles.

Steve Huntingford, the magazine’s editor, said the experiment was a much better way to test the capabilities of electric vehicles than official methods.

Car manufacturers must laboratory test new electric vehicles according to the globally harmonized light vehicle test procedure (WLTP).

These tests measure battery life traveling at an average speed of 46.8 mph in summer temperatures of 23°C from 100 percent charge to zero.

Huntingford stressed that manufacturers were not misleading people with these claims about their electric vehicle batteries.

Instead, he said the magazine’s tests highlighted “shortcomings of the official test” that “do not reflect real-world conditions.”

His team now regularly tests the range of electric vehicles in “real-world” driving environments and found that there is an 18 percent difference in battery life between winter and summer temperatures.

The editor of the automobile magazine believes that the current testing system needs an overhaul so that drivers have “realistic information and are not left disappointed” after purchasing an electric vehicle.

Mr Huntingford said The times: ‘When they test the cars it is quite hot, which is good for the battery.

‘At the same time, it is also a fairly weak test that does not demand much from the car. They do not drive at a particularly high speed and accelerate very slowly.

“It’s the kind of acceleration that would cause you problems if you drove that way on the highway.”

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