Image Courtesy: Tesla
In recent years, Norway has driven to electric vehicles like a moth to a flame. Sales and enthusiasm are at an all-time high, and there are now more models on the market than ever before. The Norwegian Automotive Federation (NAF) decided to put the latest crop of EVs to the test by testing the range of each vehicle by driving it until it died.
This year, the Norwegian Automotive Federation (NAF) held its second electric vehicle range test. It put 21 new electric vehicles to the test, driving them on a full charge until they died on the side of the road. The goal of the test was to see not only how far the vehicles could go in real life, but also how accurate the WLTP claimed range was.
Image Courtesy: Ford
NAF’s Press release states that: “This test is first and foremost an indication of how the cars deliver compared to the stated range and charging speed in the advertisement (WLTP).
This is not a scientific test, but a practical test of range under actual conditions that makes you as a buyer confident in what you can expect from range and charging speed.
All cars are charged to 100 percent overnight in a garage. All cars start cold, ie no preheating of either the passenger compartment or battery. All run in eco mode or equivalent and use regeneration actively.
The range test is run by ordinary drivers in normal traffic, and the route consists of city driving, country roads and motorways at speeds between 60 km / h and 110 km / h.
The route is the same in summer and winter, so you can easily compare the car's characteristics in summer and winter.
The cars drive through Oslo towards Gjøvik. All cars drive over Lygnasæter, with a climb of 620 meters before continuing north towards Dombås. The cars with the longest range continue over Hjerkinn and Folldal and down to Ringebu. These cars get another climb up to almost 1000 meters. This means that the cars with the longest range must sharpen at two mountain passes.
_Drivers are instructed to drive normally, follow the traffic and speed, but defensively – i.e no unnecessary overtaking. The regeneration is actively used while driving.”
Out of the total cars tested, Hyundai Kona was the only car whose range was tested previously by the organization. The rest 20 were the Ford Mustang Mach-E (Long Range AWD and Long Range RWD), Tesla Model 3 (Standard Range and Long Range), Volkswagen ID.3 Pro S and ID.4, Skoda Enyaq, Polestar 2, Audi E-Tron GT, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Xpeng G3, BMW iX3, Mercedes-Benz EQA, Volvo XC40 Recharge, Citroen e-C4, Opel Mokka-E, Fiat 500, Honda e and Mazda MX-30.
According to NAF, of the 21 vehicles tested, 18 outperformed their WLTP range.
The top 3 cars that outperformed the claimed range were
1. Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD 2021 (614 km range for test car* (WLTP) & 654.9 km range measured.)
2. Ford Mustang Mach-e Long Range RWD (610 km range for test car* (WLTP) & 617.9 km range measured.)
3. Ford Mustang Mach-e Long Range AWD (540 km range for test car* (WLTP) & 551.9 km range measured.)
The three non-compliant vehicles were the Polestar 2, Citroen e-C4 and Xiaopeng G3, which were respectively 3, 5 and 12 kilometers (1.9, 3.1 and 7.4 miles) apart from the claimed range.
In reality even those 3 cars performed impressively considering that the WLTP test cycle is more accurate than the NEDC, it generally gives optimistic results that cannot really be achieved in the real world.
Image Courtesy: Ford
According to the NAF, the Tesla Model 3 Long Range was the winner, and it completed an impressive 654.9 kilometers (406.9 miles). Followed by the long-range Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD, 617.9-kilometer (383.9-mile) just 27 kilometers (16.7 miles) less than the Tesla. The source pointed out that the Model 3 it tested was an updated version, and the stated WLTP range was 614 kilometers (compared to the 580 kilometers of the previous updated model).
It is important to note that all these cars were driven long even after the claimed range reached zero. Both Mach-E and Model 3 reached the 0 km mark at about 600 km, but went on until they stopped and the Tesla lasted much longer than the Mach-E.