Why EV drivers SHOULD have range anxiety: Half of electric cars fall short on their official range by as much as 50 miles - here are the vehicles with the best and worst

Bad news for EV owners with range anxiety - a half of electric cars go don't even go as far as makers claim.

A real-world test of 22 of the most popular electric cars has found that 10 fell short of their advertised range.

The biggest difference between quoted and actual ranges was observed in a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Lariat Extended Range, which starts at around $70,000.

It ran out of juice after covering 270 highway miles, 50 miles less than the EPA 320-mile estimate, according to a test by Consumer Reports.

When a manufacturer sells an electric car in the US, the range it advertises is overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and applies to a combination of city and highway driving.

Second worst at delivering on estimated range was the 2023 Lucid Air Touring, which costs close to $100,000. It traveled 40 miles less than the estimated 384-mile estimate.

Close behind it was a 2021 Tesla Model S. It traveled 39 miles less than its claimed 405 EPA range.

Range anxiety is when EV owners worry they won't get to their destination before needing to charge. Going on long trips in an electric car can cause rows among partners - as Daisy Goodwin found out in Italy. 

Generally, the best performing vehicles in terms of range were from German manufacturers Mercedes and BMW, which between them made all in the top five.

A 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE 350 traveled 72 miles further than the EPA estimate.

Audi, Genesis, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus, Nissan, Subaru, and Volkswagen cars were all within around 20 miles of their advertised ranges.

'Real-world comparative tests are critical to understand if an EV is right for you,' said Jake Fisher, senior director of Consumer Report's auto test center.

'That's why we purchase our vehicles like a consumer would and drive them at highway speeds like a consumer would on a road trip.'

Some makers say their EVs can go more than 400 miles on a single charge. And Toyota claims its 'Tesla killer' will eventually be able to do more than 700 miles.

All cars in the Consumer Reports test were driven on the highway at a steady speed of around 70 mph until they ran totally out of charge and ground to halt.

Each of the 22 cars had between 2,000 and 5,000 miles on their odometers at the time of the test to ensure they had approximately equivalent battery health.

For traditional internal combustion engine cars and hybrids, separate gas mileage estimates are usually given for both city and highway driving.

An internal combustion engine vehicle usually has better efficiency on highways than city roads due to the inefficiencies of stopping and starting.

Gas engines are also often most fuel efficient when revving higher and the car is driving at highway speeds.

Quoted EV ranges are different though because the estimates combine city and highway driving in accordance with standards set by the EPA.

Interestingly, electric cars and trucks usually have better range in cities thanks in part to regenerative braking, which means when the car slows instead of all its energy being lost, some is used to recharge the battery.

Consumer Reports noted that it is asking the EPA to add a highway-speed range test and make that data available to consumers.

'EPA's testing procedures date back to the early days of EVs, and what's included on the window sticker is partially controlled by laws written decades ago for gas cars,' said Chris Harto, senior energy policy analyst at Consumer Reports.

'CR has asked EPA to start the process of modernizing these regulations to help provide more useful consumer information about today's EVs, including highway range.' 

Although the EVs fell short of their touted range, gas-powered vehicles tend to meet or exceed their EPA fuel-economy values.