Tesla Model S beats 28 cars for winter range test crown

04 February 2023

The Norwegian Motor.no media outlet in collaboration with the Norwegian Automobile Federation carried out its annual winter test with a bunch of EVs, including some exotic Chinese cars that are available for purchase in the country. They usually do one winter and one summer test each year, aiming to evaluate real life performance of some popular vehicles. After all we all know WLTP ranges are optimistic, but the question is how much they differ from actual mileage.

This year, the LR trim of the Model S broke the Model 3 LR Dual Motor's record from 2021 covering 530km. For comparison, the Model 3 got to 521 km. That's despite the fact that the Model S was at a slight disadvantage compared to most cars in the test as the vehicle wasn't able to charge over 98%

As one would expect, the Norwegian is pretty harsh so testing all those vehicles in this environment makes sense. Motor.no reported that the average testing temperatures were between -5°C and -10°C. A very small part of the route even saw temperatures drop to -19°C. Here's the route that the crew uses each year for its winter testing.

On average, cars seem to lose anything between 20% and 30% of their WLTP range in these conditions with some notable exceptions. The Tesla Model S being one of those with just 16.40% deviation as well as the Maxus Euniq6, which actually only lost 10.45%. The MG Marvel R and the MG 5 also fairly close to their WLTP numbers at 16% and 17%, respectively.

Model	Advertised range (WLTP)	Actual range	Deviation from WLTP
Tesla Model S LR	614km 382mi	530km 329mi	-16.40%
Mercedes EQE 300	614km 382mi	409km 254mi	-33.39%
BMW i7 xDrive60	595km 370mi	424km 263mi	-28.74%
Nio ET7 100kWh	580km 360mi	434km 270mi	-25.17%
BMW i4 eDrive40	565km 351mi	434km 263mi	-23.19%
Tesla Model X Plaid	543km 337mi	444km 276mi	-18.23%
Nissan Airya 2WD	533km 331mi	400km 249mi	-24.95%
Volkswagen ID.5 Pro	526km 327mi	378km 235mi	-28.14%
BYD Han	521km 324mi	406km 252mi	-22.07%
Hongqi E-HS9 prototype (120 kWh)	515km 320mi	389km 242mi	-24.47%
Skoda Enyaq Coupe RS	510km 317mi	338km 210mi	-33.73%
Toyota bZ4X 2WD	503km 313mi	323km 201mi	-35.79%
Voyah Free	501km 311mi	391km 243mi	-21.96%
Hongqi E-HS9 99kWh	465km 289mi	303km 188mi	-34.84%
Kia Niro EV	460km 285mi	343km 213mi	-25.43%
Tesla Model Y SR+ RWD	455km 283mi	337km 209mi	-25.93%
Hyundai Ioniq 5 LR 4WD	454km 282mi	345km 214mi	-24.01%
Mercedes EQB 250	452km 281mi	334km 208mi	-26.11%
MG ZS LR	440km 273mi	352km 219mi	-20.00%
JAC e--JS4	433km 269mi	323km 201mi	-25.40%
BMW iX1 xDrive30	428km 266mi	337km 209mi	-21.26%
Renault Megane E-Tech	428km 266mi	318km 198mi	-25.70%
MG4 EV LR	425km 264mi	338km 210mi	-20.47%
Kia EV6 GT	424km 263mi	349km 217mi	-17.69%
BYD Atto 3	420km 261mi	311km 193mi	-25.95%
Volkswagen ID. Buzz Pro	408km 254mi	310km 193mi	-24.02%
MG5 LR	380km 236mi	313km 194mi	-17.63%
MG Marvel R AWD	370km 230mi	308km 191mi	-16.76%
Maxus Euniq6	354km 220mi	317km 197mi	-10.45%

At the other end of the spectrum the Mercedes EQE 300 had a rough time, with 33.39% drop from its advertised range. However it's not all bad news as the EQE was still able to go beyond 400km. The Chinese Hongqi E-HS9's range also dropped more than 34%.

Once again the runt of the litter was the Toyota bZ4X in its two-wheel drive version as it lost 35.79% of its range. Notably, the company didn't want to provide the 4WD version as that vehicle underperformed in pretty much all range and consumption tests so far, so the company will apply some much-needed updates before delivering it for another test. The same goes for the Subaru Solterra, which is identical down to the badges.

Recently we saw similar readings from the Chinese winter test, where the bZ4X again come short of expectations.

The list also includes 12 Chinese-made cars, some of which are soon to be released in Europe - JAC e-JS4, Voyah Free, BYD Atto, BYD Han and the Nio ET7.

Source (in Norwegian)