Each year, the Norwegian Automotive Federation (NAF) and Norwegian motoring magazine Motor.No carries out one of the most brutal electric vehicle range tests in the El Prix Winter Test Drive, which begins in Norway’s capital, Oslo, and then ventures as far north as battery range will allow.
As TechRadar reports, once the city was left behind, this year’s route then took in city traffic, mountain roads and highways, with the temperature plummeting the more kilometers were covered. This year was supposedly the coldest edition of the El Prix Winter Test Drive yet, with temperatures dropping down to –31°C / 23.8°F. It’s worth noting here that those cars with the longer range had to deal with the coldest conditions, as the further north they travelled, the colder the ambient temperature became.
The results showed that those longer range vehicles naturally fared better, with the Lucid Air taking top honors. The car, which boasts a near 600-mile WLTP range, managed to cover 323 miles before it required recharging.
| Top 10 Hardiest EVs | ||
| EV | Distance covered (Km) | WLTP range (Km) |
| 1. Lucid Air | 960 | 520 |
| 2. Mercedes-Benz CLA | 709 | 421 |
| 3. Audi A6 | 653 | 402 |
| 4. Kia EV4 | 594 | 390 |
| 5. BMW iX | 641 | 388 |
| 6. Volvo ES90 | 624 | 373 |
| 7. Hyundai Ioniq 9 | 600 | 370 |
| 8. Xpeng X9 | 560 | 361 |
| 9. Tesla Model Y | 600 | 359 |
| 10. MG IM6 | 505 | 352 |
In second place, the recently-launched and hyper-efficient Mercedes-Benz CLA covered just over 261 miles of its official 440-mile range, while the Audi A6 placed third, covering almost 250 miles of its 406-mile claimed range.
The test was carried out with a single driver and minimal equipment, in order to keep the load weight fair. The cabin was then heated to a comfortable temperature and speed was kept to the legal limit on each type of road.
In terms of a value proposition, the Kia EV4 performed particularly well in fourth place, seeing as it costs a great deal less than those vehicles in the top three positions. It managed to cover just over 242 miles in tough winter conditions, compared to its 369-mile WLTP range value.
As a result, it achieved on of the best price-per-winter kilometer ratings of the group, only beaten by the cut-price Hyundai Inster, which only posted a -29% variation of its WLTP range during testing.
However, due to the limited range of the smaller onboard battery packs (its WLTP range is just 223 miles), the Inster covered fewer overall miles and therefore avoided some of the coldest conditions.
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