Customers in countries with freezing weather have to worry about more things with their EVs than just where to charge. By now, we all should know that battery packs do not like cold and lose performance in such situations, but some deal with it better than others. According to Dagbladet, Korean electric cars are the most efficient ones in such cases.

The Norwegian newspaper tested 12 EVs: 6 of them in 2019 and the other 6 in 2020. After checking the WLTP ranges for these cars, they made the tests in the same paths, always in temperatures that ranged from -19ºC to -6ºC, and measured the energy consumption these cars had in such conditions.

In 2019, Dagbladet tested the Tesla Model S, Hyundai Kona Electric, Kia e-Niro, Jaguar I-Pace, BMW i3, and Nissan Leaf. The worst of the pack was the Jaguar I-Pace, with an energy consumption of 31 kWh/100 km. It would beat the worse ones in 2020. The best ones were the Kia e-Niro and the Hyundai Kona Electric, both with an energy consumption of 20 kWh/100 km.

New Kia e-Niro '2'

In 2020, the Tesla Model 3, Kia e-Soul, Audi E-Tron, Mercedes-Benz EQC, Renault Zoe, and Hyundai Ioniq joined the group. Again, the most efficient one was a Korean car, the Hyundai Ioniq, with an energy consumption of only 17 kWh/100 km. The worse ones were the more expensive EVs: the Audi E-Tron and the Mercedes-Benz EQC, both with around 28 kWh/100 km. Curiously, that’s the same consumption the Nissan Leaf had in 2019.

If you are wondering how the Tesla vehicles did in the test, none of them was among the best performing. The Tesla Model 3 reached an energy consumption of 24 kWh/100 km, while the Model S had to use 26 kWh/100 km, pretty close to the worse ones.

When it comes to range pure and simple, the biggest battery packs did not represent the longest distances in cold weather. In 2019, the Kia e-Niro and the Hyundai Kona Electric managed to run 333 km with their 64 kWh battery packs, very close to the Model S with its 100 kWh unit: it managed to travel 391 km instead of the 639 km its WLTP promises.

In 2020, another Kia humiliated more expensive vehicles. The e-Soul reached 319 km in the test, while the Audi E-Tron and its 86 kWh battery pack ran only 304 km. The Model 3 ran 301 km. Its WLTP range is 567 km.

None of the new Volkswagen group electric cars were tested so far, but the 2021 test will certainly include them. The results should be interesting.

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