Tesla Model 3 Vs Rivals: 10 EVs Compete In Real-World Range Test

How far can today's electric cars go on a single charge? Is the Tesla Model 3 the true leader?

By: Steven Loveday

Jul 29, 2021 at 1:21pm ET

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What Car? chose 10 of today's best EVs and drove them all until they died. This should give you a solid idea of how various EVs compare. However, arguably most importantly, it should prove whether or not the Tesla Model 3 has the most range, and how each EV's real-world range stacks up to official range estimates.

As electric cars are gaining traction across the globe, and they're getting much more coverage from mainstream media and traditional automotive outlets, more people are becoming aware of the concepts behind range and charging.

There was a time when it didn't really matter which EV you owned, you were almost certain to have some range anxiety. Tesla has arguably solved the range anxiety problem with its vehicles' lengthy estimated range, as well as the company's fast and convenient proprietary public fast-charging network: The Tesla Supercharger network, which will be made available to other EVs in the future.

With that said, many of today's EVs have much more range than they used to, and public charging infrastructure is growing in general, not to mention that charging speed has improved significantly in many cases.

While Tesla's vehicles have more EPA-estimated range than most other EVs, that doesn't necessarily mean they have more real-world range. It seems that based on the way various electric car range is evaluated, Tesla's estimates tend to overpromise, whereas some other brand's estimates seem to be quite conservative.

To get a better idea of how much range to expect from your EV, we suggest consulting not only the EPA, but also as many real-world range tests as possible. Each range test is different, and factors like weather, driving style, and much more can have a big impact.

Aside from the Model 3, What Car? features the following vehicles in the video:

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We won't give away the results, but we will say the Tesla Model 3 isn't the overall winner. It comes close, taking the second place position. You might be quite surprised at which car has the most real-world range in this test.