Not all EVs get home on their lab range
The latest round of Real-World testing by the AAA and RACQ turns its focus to EVs with surprising results.
Range anxiety remains one of the biggest barriers to more widespread consumer adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), with new test results from Australia’s peak motoring body confirming that the real-world range of most EVs it has evaluated falls short of the manufacturers advertised claims.
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) said its independent testing of four new electric vehicles found their real-world driving range to be between 3% and 31% shorter than the official laboratory test results reported by carmakers.
In the latest results, the Tesla Model Y 2025 performed closest to its laboratory test result with a real-world driving range of 450km, which is 3% (or 16km) less than the distance recorded in its lab test.
At the other end of the spectrum, the MG4 2023 recorded the biggest variation from its lab test, with a real-world range of 281km, which is 31% (or 124km) less than the range reported on its mandated windscreen sticker.
EV testing helps keep buyers informed
AAA polling shows 60% of people identifying as likely EV buyers nominate concerns about vehicle range and recharging as “the main concerns or hesitations” preventing them from choosing an EV.
The organisation’s Real World Testing Program has now evaluated nine EVs, finding each had an on-road range shorter than the results recorded in mandatory laboratory testing, and that there were significant variations between models.
AAA Managing Director Michael Bradley said the results gave consumers an independent indication of real-world battery range, which meant they could now know which cars perform as advertised and which do not.
The MG 4's Real-World testing result was 31% less than its lab-tested range.
“Giving consumers improved information about real-world driving range means buyers can worry less about running out of charge and make the switch to EVs with confidence,” Mr Bradley said.
Since starting in 2023, the AAA’s Real World Testing Program has also evaluated 131 internal combustion and hybrid vehicles and found 76% of these cars used more fuel on-road than in their laboratory tests.
Many internal combustion engine powered cars also produced on-road emissions that exceeded current or upcoming Australian regulatory lab limits for toxic tailpipe emissions.
How the Real-World Testing Program works
The AAA program is supported by $14 million in Commonwealth funding and was created in response to the 2015 Volkswagen scandal, which showed increasingly stringent regulation of vehicle emissions incentivises carmakers to optimise vehicle functionality for laboratory, rather than the real-world performance.
The program tests cars on a 93km circuit in and around Geelong, Victoria.
It uses strict testing protocols based on European regulations to ensure results are repeatable, and to minimise the influence of human factors such as driving style and changing traffic flows.
Real-world testing measures EV range by quantifying both the energy needed to drive a vehicle around the program test route, and the energy needed to recharge each vehicle’s fully depleted battery.
The AAA said the results provided potential EV buyers with the information they needed to understand which cars perform as advertised, and which fall short.
Results from the AAA's latest EV testing:
In August 2025, the AAA released the following five results from its first tranche of EV testing:
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