New range record for electric cars

New range record for electric cars

The El Prix test is carried out twice a year - once in winter, once in summer - under realistic conditions in Norway. “This year’s results were very pleasing: more than half of the vehicles were able to exceed the WLTP ranges specified by the manufacturer,” explains Florian Merker, technology expert at the mobility club. The American Lucid Air set a new record of 829 kilometers, but remained 13.7 percent below its official WLTP range of 960 kilometers. As Merker explains, the disappointing performance can be explained primarily by the challenging test conditions: "The Lucid had significantly more driving time at temperatures below ten degrees and was caught in heavy rain showers more often than other vehicles in the test. These factors have been proven to have a negative impact on the range of electric vehicles - especially when driving through mountainous terrain, as was sometimes the case."

Better than WLTP

The Tesla Model 3 (721 km) and the BMW iX (691 km) also exceeded the previous Tesla record from 2023 (672 km). “The revised Tesla Model Y emerged as the winner in relation to the WLTP range: at 652 kilometers, it drove a full 11.3 percent further than specified by the manufacturer,” reports Merker. At the El-Prix 2025 there were again several vehicles in use that are not yet available in Austria, but provide an exciting look at upcoming models from Chinese manufacturers - such as the Hongqi EHS7, Voyah Courage or Zeekr 7X. The latter impressed with 593 kilometers and a positive WLTP deviation of 9.6 percent. “Once again it became clear how powerful modern electric vehicles already are under real conditions,” is the conclusion of the ÖAMTC expert. “The increasing proportion of Chinese models in particular shows how strongly the market is developing.”