Find Your Perfect EV

Answer a few questions and we'll match you with electric vehicles that genuinely fit your life — factoring in your climate, driving habits, and budget.

Step 1

Where do you mostly drive?

Climate has a bigger impact on EV range than most people realise.

Select your country

Choosing an EV by usable kWh, efficiency and real range

Range is arithmetic: usable battery capacity (in kWh) multiplied by efficiency (in miles or km per kWh). Both numbers matter on their own, not just the headline range figure they produce. A Hyundai Ioniq 6 and a similarly-priced mid-size SUV can carry a comparable usable battery yet post noticeably different real-world range simply because the saloon shape moves through the air more efficiently. Shopping on battery size alone — "which car has the biggest kWh number" — misses this entirely. It's worth looking at efficiency and usable capacity as two separate levers, since a more efficient, smaller-battery EV can comfortably out-range a bigger, thirstier one, often at a lower price and with a smaller environmental footprint per mile driven.

Usable vs gross capacity — why the marketed number isn't the whole story

Every EV battery has two capacity figures: the gross (total) capacity built into the pack, and the smaller usable capacity actually available to drive on. Manufacturers reserve a buffer — typically a few percent at the very top and bottom of the charge range — to protect the cells from the most stressful extremes of full and empty, and to keep the state-of-charge readout accurate over the car's life. Marketing sometimes quotes the larger gross figure, so a car advertised with a "77kWh battery" might only offer around 72–75kWh of usable range day to day. When comparing range claims between brands, usable capacity — not gross — is the number that actually predicts how far you'll get, which is why every figure on the battery specs page is shown as usable capacity.

Matching an EV to how you actually drive

Specs only tell half the story — the right EV also depends on your typical trip lengths, home charging access, climate, and budget. A driver doing mostly short local trips with a home charger rarely needs the biggest, most expensive battery on offer; a driver covering long motorway distances regularly, or without reliable home charging, benefits far more from strong DC rapid charging speed than from a slightly bigger pack. Cold-climate drivers should weight winter range loss and heat pump availability more heavily than the headline WLTP or EPA figure alone. The finder above turns these trade-offs into a short set of questions rather than asking you to weigh every spec yourself.

Choosing an EV FAQs

What's a good efficiency figure for an EV?
Roughly 3.5–4.5mi/kWh (or 14–18kWh/100km) is considered efficient for a modern EV, achieved by aerodynamic saloons and smaller crossovers like a Tesla Model 3 or Hyundai Ioniq 6. Larger SUVs and trucks — a Kia EV9 or a pickup-style EV — more typically sit around 2.2–3mi/kWh (22–28kWh/100km). Neither figure is "wrong"; it reflects the trade-off between interior space, ride height and range per kWh of battery fitted.
Does a bigger battery always mean more range?
Not necessarily — efficiency matters just as much as capacity. A smaller, more aerodynamic EV with a 60kWh usable battery and 4mi/kWh efficiency gets roughly the same range as a larger SUV with an 80kWh battery managing 3mi/kWh. When comparing models, look at both numbers together, not battery size alone — a bigger battery pack often just offsets a less efficient shape rather than delivering genuinely longer range.
Why do two EVs with the same battery size have different ranges?
Range is capacity multiplied by efficiency, and efficiency varies a lot between models with otherwise similar batteries — driven by aerodynamic drag, vehicle weight, tyre choice, motor and inverter efficiency, and how aggressively the car manages energy at low charge. Two EVs sharing a very similar usable capacity can differ in real-world range by 15% or more purely because one is a more efficient design.
Is the advertised battery capacity the same as what I can actually use?
No — manufacturers publish both a gross (total) capacity and a smaller usable capacity, with the difference reserved as a buffer at the very top and bottom of the pack to protect long-term health and keep the range estimate accurate. A car marketed with a "77kWh battery" might have a usable capacity closer to 72–75kWh. Always compare usable figures when shopping — see the battery specs page for usable capacity by model.

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