Tesla's EV Range Isn't All It's Cracked Up to Be, Edmunds Says - Barron's

A Tesla store in Wuhan, China.
Getty Images

Automotive data provider Edmunds tested a bevy of electric vehicles, comparing the range achieved against the EPA estimated range. The results, for auto makers, were pretty good—unless you were Tesla.

Fifteen EVs were tested, and just four auto makers made it into the 300-mile-on-a-single-charge club: Ford Motor (ticker: F), Hyundai Motor (005380.Korea), Porsche (PAH3.Germany), and Tesla (TSLA). Having Tesla on the list isn’t the surprise to investors. The EV pioneer has been building EVs for more than a decade, and the company boasted about breaking the 400-mile-per-charge barrier this past June.

The surprise is how poorly Tesla vehicles performed compared with EPA estimated ranges. “Every Tesla we’ve tested has failed to hit its EPA range estimate,” reads the Edmund’s press release.

Tesla and Edmunds weren’t immediately available to comment on the findings.

A Tesla 2018 Model 3 performance edition was supposed to get 310 miles a charge. Edmunds got 256 miles. A 2020 Model 3 standard range was supposed to get a range of 250 miles. Edmunds got 232 miles. A 2020 Tesla Model X long range was supposed to get 328 miles. Edmunds got 294 miles. A 2020 Tesla Model Y performance configuration was supposed to get 291 miles of range. Edmunds got 263 miles.

Edmunds got 318 miles of range from the Tesla 2020 Model S performance vehicle tested. That’s the model that put Tesla in the 300-mile range club. The EPA estimated range for that vehicle is 326 miles of range on a single charge.

Tesla vehicles tested, on average, scored about 9% worse than predicted range. The other 10 EVs beat expected range by an average of about 19%.

Range is a big factor when comparing EV models. More range can mean better pricing and more market share for an EV. Tesla still has excellent range. Its vehicles averaged about 273 miles on a single charge, compared with 256 miles for the other 10 EVs. But the Tesla lead is less than 20 miles compared with an EPA expected lead of about 80 miles per charge.

Tesla stock is down 5.3% in late trading Wednesday, at $804.45. The S&P 500 is down 0.1%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.2%.

What’s next for investors is to see what Wall Street analysts think of the data.

The models, in addition to the Model S, which reached 300 miles on a charge are the 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E, the 2020 Hyundai Kona, and the 2020 Porsche Taycan 4S.

Let's block ads! (Why?)