Massive Range Test Staged In Norway: 21 EVs Driven Until Dead

Almost all vehicles exceeded the claimed WLTP range stated by the manufacturer in this summer EV range test.

NAF Range Test

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Jun 7, 2021 at 10:46am ET

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The Norwegian Automotive Federation (NAF for short) staged its second electric vehicle range test this year. It tested 21 new EVs, driving them on a full charge of their batteries, until they died on the side of the road. The goal of the test was to not only see the vehicles’ actual real-world range, but to also see just how accurate the claimed WLTP range really is.

The press release provided to us by NAF says that

21 EVs were driven until they stopped completely and shut down, to measure their real world range. To test all the cars equally, the test drive was performed without preheating of neither cabin nor battery.

All cars drove the same route on the same day, with similar style of driving, and climate control settings. The route consist of city driving, country roads and high way speeds up to 110 km/t. All cars have to cross at least one mountain pass. The cars with the longest range cross two additional mountain passes.

The test focused on range, consumption and rapid charge time.

Gallery: NAF Range Test

NAF Range Test

Out of the total number of vehicles, only the Hyundai Kona had been previously range tested by the organization. The other twenty 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.

We’ve made a gallery where you can check out all their results (it's embedded right below this paragraph), but we’ll focus on the vehicles that impressed the NAF most. Their favorite seemed to be the BMW iX3 that they were able to drive for exactly 556.2 km (345.6 miles) before it ground to a halt. This is 20 percent more than the WLTP claim, or 106 km (66 miles) more, to be precise.

Gallery: NAF Summer Range Test (21 electric vehicles)

NAF Summer Electric Vehicle Range Test

Out of the total 21 vehicles tested, 18 exceeded their WLTP range, according to NAF. The three vehicles that didn’t were the Polestar 2, Citroen e-C4 and the Xpeng G3 that fell short by 3, 5 and 12 km (1.9, 3.1 and 7.4 miles) respectively. But even these three provided impressive results, considering the fact that the WLTP test cycle, while more accurate than NEDC, often provides optimistic results that can’t really be achieved in the real world.

The Tesla Model 3 Long Range was the overall winner, according to the source, and it managed a very impressive 654.9 km (406.9 miles). Next was the Ford Mustang Mach-E Long Range RWD 617.9 km (383.9 miles), or just 27 km (16.7 miles) less than the Tesla. The source points out the Model 3 it tested is the updated version with the 614 km WLTP claimed range (up from the pre-refresh model's 580 km).

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It is important to note that all these cars were driven well after their predicted range had reached zero. Both the Mach-E and the Model 3 reached the 0 km mark at around 600 km, but they kept driving the vehicles until they stopped, and the Tesla lasted a lot longer.

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