It's world EV day and appropriately we at carandbike are celebrating not just electric vehicles, but also sustainable energy and transportation. One of the major obstacles in the adoption of electric cars is range anxiety. People can't just randomly top up the range of their vehicles as batteries can't be charged instantly and the charging infrastructure is a fraction of what there is for fuel pumps. But battery technology has progressed a lot in the last decade and now we have vehicles that can outmanoeuvre internal combustion engine rivals. EVs are also different as the harder you drive them the faster, they lose charge but when you're stuck in traffic thanks to tech like regenerative braking, they recoup the capacity quite suddenly. We take a look at EVs that have the best longevity.
Lucid Air Dream Edition
The brainchild of former Tesla Model S chief engineer Pete Rawlinson, the Lucid Air which will soon launch in the US will have a whopping 653 km range. And mind you this is the range on the standard edition. But when we talk about the Dream Edition which is coming out first that range exceeds 800 km to 832 km. Most internal combustion engine-based vehicles cannot offer that kind of range.
Tesla Model S
In 2020, the Tesla Model S claimed a whopping range of 647 km but now there is an all-new generation of the Model S replete with a new motor and battery tech. The new plaid model which is the fastest production car in the world that has the ability to do 0-100 km in just 1.9 seconds can still deliver 637 km of range. When some of the other variants don't offer this level of performance, the Model S will likely go beyond.
Rivian R1T
Amazon and Ford backed Rivian is finally delivering the R1T pickup truck which is one of the most anticipated vehicles of the year. Its official range is 505 km which for pickup and SUV standards is very impressive. This is corroborated by the recent first drive-by MotorTrend which revealed a range of 483 km in real-world conditions. As is always the case, the bigger the vehicle, the lower the range would be despite a bigger battery pack but even then, the R1T for a first-generation product is reflective of how good EVs are becoming.
Tesla Model 3
The Model 3 is the most affordable car that Tesla makes. But when it comes down to offering long-range, it is not far away from the Tesla Model S which offers really impressive figures. The long-range edition of the 2021 Model 3 delivers 568 km of the range which is ridiculous when one also takes into account the price of the car and the levels of performance it has.
Ford Mustang Mach E
Ford is new to EVs, but the way it also measures the range of its vehicles is slightly different. It tends to share figures with a heavy payload on the car while other manufacturers do it without payload. And even then, the Mustang Mach E offers an impressive 491 km range on the Mach E. It promises similar figures in the upcoming F-150 Lightning pickup truck.
Porsche Taycan
As per EPA tests, the Porsche Taycan delivers 362 km of the range which is decent but nothing earth-shattering, but many real-world tests have revealed that the Taycan does vastly better than what the EPA indicated because Porsche takes a penalty for not doing all the tests the EPA stipulates it to do. Independently, the car does 450 km on a single charge which is mighty impressive for what is a Panamera disguised as an EV.
XPeng P7
XPeng is often dubbed the Tesla of China. Its P7 is basically what the Model 3 is to the Californian carmaker. It leverages the WLTP standard which is more liberal with the range figures, but even then, there are some whopping numbers at play here. The standard performance model gets 562 km of range while the Super Long Range model which has a bigger battery can do 706 km on a single charge.
Mercedes EQS
The first luxury EV by the three-pointed star is basically the electric avatar of its icon - the S-Class. And the S-Class is often called the best car in the world, so naturally, the folks at Mercedes-Benz wouldn't have wanted the EQS to be lagging behind the Tesla Model S. So, Daimler claims an impressive 770 km of range on a single charge based on the WLTP cycle which makes it quite comparable to the Tesla Model S.
Rimac Nevera
Imagine a car that has more than 1,900 bhp of power, can do 0-96.5 in 1.85 seconds and can reach 300 kmph in just 9.3 seconds and yet it can deliver a range in the realm of 549 km to 650 km, that is just mind-boggling stuff. That's why the hype around Rimac is real and that's why Porsche has merged Bugatti with Rimac to create the supercars that define this century. With the Nevera, Rimac has achieved the holy grail - a balance between hypercar beating power, GT cruising range and comfort all packaged beautifully in a super-exclusive vehicle.
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Hyundai's Ioniq 5 is the South Korean giant's answer to the Tesla Model 3. The Ioniq 5 is built on its own E-GMP platform which is the basis of a practical, smart and very functional EV that gives an impressive range of up to 481 km. The Kia EV6 is also based on the Ioniq 5 considering Hyundai owns Kia and that car delivers a similar range with a more potent powertrain.
