A decade ago, choosing an electric car boiled down to looking at the official range and the price. Today, in 2026, the criteria are more complex and practical. Real range on highways or in cold weather, battery type, and consumption at cruising speed are decisive data. Buyers seek a set of features that fit their daily use, not just a promotional figure.
Battery chemistry and real consumption as key factors 🔋
Battery technology is a main point of analysis. Chemistries like LFP, with greater safety and life cycles, compete with NCM for their cold weather performance. At the same time, consumption on the highway at 120 km/h is consolidating as the most reliable efficiency indicator. A value between 14 and 16 kWh/100 km reflects effective aerodynamics and thermal management, ensuring predictable real range on long trips.
The WLTP: that data that's only useful for comparing with other WLTPs 🧐
It's curious how we still cite WLTP range, knowing it has the relation to reality of a travel catalog with the hotel room. It has become a standard unit of measurement, but only useful for comparing with other equally theoretical data. In the end, we all know the figure that matters is the one that appears on the dashboard when the GPS announces 300 km to destination and mental calculator mode activates.