'I drove five EVs including BMW and Audi until they died and were floored by results'

A group of motoring reviewers have driven five top electric cars until they died to find out which one has the best range and which is the most efficient.

The testers from Carwow took a BMW iX, Polestar 3, Audi Q6 e-tron, Kia EV9, and a Genesis GV70 to find out how far they could go on a single charge.

Not only did the testers want to find out how efficient the cars were, but they also wanted to see how far they would go once they said they had no range left, and how they behaved when they did eventually come to a stop.

They were surprised by just how efficient they were and how close they came to their claimed WLTP range – the figure that suggests how far the car could go in optimum conditions.

They concluded: “The Polestar 3 was the clear winner. It managed 390 miles on a full charge which is 89 percent of what Polestar claims. In second place was the BMW iX, it did 366 miles which is 86 percent of its claimed range.

“Next was the Kia which managed 329 miles, that’s 94 percent of its claimed range. The Audi was just behind with 325 miles which is 90 percent of its claimed range, and the Genesis came last.

“It only managed 279 miles, but that’s an impressive 94 percent of its claimed range. The BMW, Kia, Audi, and Genesis all returned identical energy consumption of 3.4 miles per kilowatt hour, but the Polestar faired slightly better at 3.5 mi/kWh.”

However, the results don't tell the entire story and one car in particular totally floored them.

The Polestar lasted for so long that driver Mat and his camera crew had to find somewhere to eat as the car was outlasting them. He said: "I had started to notice a different problem. It was taking such a long time to run out of charge that the crew and I needed to eat."

As well as talking about how far the electric cars went, they also compared how efficient they were compared to a diesel Skoda Superb that was also on the trip in terms of pence per mile.

Journalist Mat Watson said: “It would cost around £84 to fully charge the Polestar’s 111kWh battery using a 50kilowatt fast charger, and based on my real world range of 390 miles, that works out at 22p per mile.

“Filling the Skoda with diesel cost £89, but that added 730 miles of range which works out to 12 pence per mile. However, if you charged your Polestar using cheap off peak electricity at home your running costs could be as low as two pence per mile.”

What the results suggest then is that the ranges of electric cars are getting longer and the cars are getting more efficient.

Furthermore, depending on when and where you charge will depend on whether you’re getting more range for your money than an equivalent petrol or diesel car.

It is also important to note that very few people will do what Carwow did and drive their electric cars until the range hits zero in the same way few people would do that with a petrol or diesel car.

On top of increasing ranges, electric cars are once again starting to become more affordable after the government introduced an electric car grant scheme, however this only applies to certain models.