Anyone getting into the EV market or just out of plain curiosity wants to know how far you can drive an electric vehicle before the battery needs to be recharged.
Whether you’re planning a long-distance road trip or you live in a rural setting, knowing your total range is essential so that you don’t wind up stranded on the side of the road.
The longest range electric vehicle on the market is the 2022 Lucid Air Dream with an EPA tested range of 520 miles. The top 10 models with the longest ranges in 2022 are all from Lucid Motors, Tesla, and Mercedes and span from 350-520 EPA miles.
Below I’ve compiled the 26 longest-range electric vehicles on the market in 2022. The overwhelming majority are available in the United States, but there are a couple on the list that are European.
I also only used EPA rated ranges and MPGe data to stay consistent, and NOT the WLPT or NEDC ratings.
What Are the Longest Range Electric Vehicles
| Model EV | Year | EPA Range in Miles | Usable Battery kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lucid Air Dream Edition R 19″ AWD | 2022 | 520 | 113 |
| Lucid Air Grand Touring 19″ AWD | 2022 | 516 | 113 |
| Lucid Air Dream Edition 21″ AWD | 2022 | 481 | 113 |
| Lucid Air Dream Edition P 19″ AWD | 2022 | 471 | 113 |
| Lucid Air Grand Touring 21″ AWD | 2022 | 469 | 113 |
| Lucid Air Dream Edition P 21″ AWD | 2022 | 451 | 113 |
| Tesla Model S | 2022 and 2021 | 405 | 98 |
| Tesla Model X | 2021 | 371 | 98 |
| Tesla Model 3 Extended Range | 2022 | 358 | 82 |
| Tesla Model 3 Extended Range | 2021 | 353 | 76.5 |
| Mercedes EQS 450+ | 2022 | 350 | 107.8 |
| Tesla Model X | 2022 | 348 | 95 |
| Mercedes EQS 580 | 2022 | 340 | 107.8 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range 19″ Wheels | 2022 | 330 | 75 |
| Tesla Model Y Long Range | 2021 | 326 | 75 |
| BMW iX xDrive50 Sport (20″) | 2022 | 324 | 105.2 |
| Tesla Model 3 Long Range 20″ Wheels | 2022 | 318 | 75 |
| BMW iX xDrive50 (22″) | 2022 | 315 | 105.2 |
| Kia EV6 | 2022 | 310 | 77.4 |
| Hyundai Ioniq 5 RWD | 2022 | 303 | 77.4 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD Extended | 2022 | 303 | 91 |
| BMW i4 | 2022 | 301 | 81.5 |
| Ford Mustang Mach-E RWD Extended | 2021 | 300 | 88 |
| Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor | 2022 | 270 | 75 |
| Hyundai Kona | 2022 | 258 | 64 |
Which EV has the Longest Range?
The EV with the longest range is the Lucid Air Dream Edition that has achieved 520 miles in EPA testing. It has 19″ wheels and it all wheel drive. The Lucid Air Grand Touring has been tested by the EPA to achieve 516 miles and also has 19″ wheels and is all wheel drive.
The brand with the longest range electric vehicles is Lucid Motors. Their six models released in 2022 hold the top six spots for the longest ranges that span 451-520 miles. These models are sub-variants of the Lucid Air Dream Edition and Grand Touring. The ranges vary based on wheel size and optional upgrades which may weigh the car down a bit more.
Tesla Models S, X, and 3 all take up much of the top half of the list for the longest range vehicles, and their previous years’ models are nearly just as competitive.
The Mercedes EQS 450+ got its name because it was rated for 453 miles with European WLTP testing (we’ll get to this in the next section) but only achieved 350 miles with EPA testing — which is still very respectable. Mercedes will be interesting to watch in the future years now that they are competitive with Tesla with regards to range, but both still fall short of Lucid Motors.
If you’re interested in how long it takes to charge an electric vehicle, you can check out my article here.
Why are the Same Electric Vehicles Advertised with Different Ranges?
For anyone new to electric vehicles, seeing multiple range ratings for the same vehicle is very common. In the EV industry, there are three authoritative ratings when it comes to range, MPGe, and other factors. They are the following:
- EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
- WLTP (Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure)
- NEDC (New European Driving Cycle)
The EPA is the standard that Americans will use, whereas the WLTP and NEDC are European based, with the WLTP replacing the NEDC more and more. In the United States, it is still common to see the European ratings.
Unfortunately, there is really no correlation between any of the 3 common rating standards, and the results can be drastically different between them.
For instance, the 2022 Mercedes EQS 450+ has a WLTP rating of 453 miles, but the American EPA rating is only for 350.
Which one is correct in the real world?
Neither.
All of these tests have their own independent ways of testing and are not conducted in the same way.
What does this mean to the owner of a new EV?
You’ll have a ballpark baseline of what you might expect, and that’s about it.
More than likely, you’ll find that your actual real world range will exceed the EPA rating, but will fall short of the WLTP (and sometimes in reverse).
This will not happen all the time though, and there is no hard and fast rule to calculate an EPA range if given the WLTP range. Sometimes, especially on Teslas, the EPA range will actually be higher than the WLTP range.
In the case of the 2022 Mercedes EQS 450+ when testing for actual driving behavior, it performed at 422 miles of range using the Edmund’s EV range loop for real world applications.
In reality, you won’t have a sterile vehicle straight from the factory, where the vehicle is completely empty while performing these tests. You’re going to have 1 or more people in the car, and you’re also going to have personal belongings. You’re going to have fewer or more inclines, fewer or more stops, on your way to work and back than the laboratory test. You might have more highway time than city driving, or vice versa. The temperature might be very cold, or very hot.
All of these factors (and more) affect the battery life, and they all contribute to the range you’ll get out of your vehicle.
To add to any confusion, the EPA ranges are broken down into the following categories:
- Combined
- City
- Highway
Typically the combined is used for advertising purposes but you’ll always want to double check. The combined range is a blend between city and highway driving, so it will almost always be below the city range but above the highway range.
Unlike gas vehicles which perform more efficiently on highways versus city driving with frequent starts and stops, an electric vehicle will perform most efficiently with city driving.
Longest Range Electric Vehicles Sorted by EPA MPGe
What Electric Vehicle Can Go 500 miles?
The Dream Edition Range and Lucid Air Grand Touring from Lucid Motors are the only two electric vehicles to date which have a verified EPA range above 500 miles. The Dream Edition Range can travel 520 miles (837 km) and the Lucid Air Grand Touring can travel 516 miles (830 km) on a single charge.
From my research, the only one that came close to this number was the 2022 Mercedes Benz EQS 450+ which has a WLTP range of 453 miles (729 km). When we use EPA ratings, it falls to 350 miles. However, as we read earlier, it tested at 422 actual miles using the Edmund real world EV loop and was their top performing vehicle by 77 miles as of November 2021.
The Tesla Model S still holds an impressive 405 EPA rated miles (652 km) and has been an industry leader on paper until very recently.
Of course, with all of these models, you can expect that real world driving situations will likely decrease these ranges.
