Every comparison quotes the EPA combined figure, and it is the wrong number for the one journey where range actually decides something. An electric car does worse at motorway speed and better in town, so the combined rating flatters the long drive. This ranks them on the EPA’s separate highway cycle instead: 36 of the 40 cars in the database carry a highway rating, and the twenty longest are below. Chevrolet Silverado EV Max Range leads at 437 miles, and the Lucid Air Pure RWD is second at 408 from less than half the battery.
Ranked from the 20 cars in our database that have a sourced figure for this. A car with no published figure is left out rather than ranked as a zero. Figures are US units; every model page carries the metric equivalent and the source.Figures are metric; every model page carries the imperial equivalent and the source.
What this ranking measures
The EPA certifies two cycles and publishes both: a city test and a highway test. The number almost everyone quotes is the combined figure, a weighted blend of the two. This page ranks the highway figure on its own, unblended, exactly as the regulator publishes it on each car’s certification record.
Why it matters
For a petrol car the two cycles run the way you expect: worse in town, better on the motorway. An electric car is the other way round. There is no idling, braking returns energy to the battery, and at a steady 70 mph aerodynamic drag dominates — so the highway figure is the lower one for every car here. How much lower is the part the combined rating hides. BMW i4 eDrive40 gives up only 5 per cent of its city rating; Hyundai Ioniq 5 84 kWh RWD gives up 24 per cent. A car can therefore look competitive on the number in the brochure and be a full charging stop behind on a real journey.
How we calculate it
We do not calculate it. The figures are the EPA’s, taken from the certification record for the exact model year and drivetrain each page describes, and the same record supplies the combined rating already shown on the car’s own page. The only arithmetic on this page is the city-to-highway percentage, which is one figure divided by the other. Miles are converted to kilometres for display at 1.609344 and nothing else is transformed.
What it does not measure
The EPA highway cycle is a laboratory procedure at moderate speed, not a German autobahn and not a winter motorway. It does not account for temperature, headwind, roof boxes, towing or the speed you actually drive, all of which cost more range than the gap between the two cycles does. It also says nothing about how quickly the car recovers that range — a shorter-range car that adds 10 to 80 per cent in 17 minutes can finish a long drive sooner than a longer-range car that takes 32. That comparison is in fastest-charging electric cars, and what the whole trip costs is in how many stops a 500-mile drive takes.
Data coverage
36 of the 40 cars in the database carry an EPA highway rating; the table lists the twenty longest. The 4 with no rating are BYD Seal AWD Excellence, Tesla Model 3 RWD, Tesla Model Y RWD, Volkswagen ID.7 Pro — they are not sold in the United States, so no EPA certification exists for them and there is nothing to rank. They are named rather than quietly dropped. No estimate is substituted for a missing rating anywhere on this site.
Limitations
A ranking of official ratings is a ranking of a test, not of cars. Two cars a few miles apart here are not meaningfully different; the useful reading is the shape of the list and the size of the city-to-highway drop, not the ordering of adjacent rows. Ratings also change between model years, and this page follows whatever model year each car page documents rather than the newest one on sale.
The rankings on this site cover the cars we document in full. If you want the whole US market instead — every electric car the EPA has certified, 403 models, searchable and sortable — that is the electric car range comparison. It is EPA range and consumption only, and it says so.
Frequently asked questions
Which electric car has the longest highway range?
Of the cars in this database with a US rating, Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD at 329 miles on the EPA highway cycle, against 360 miles on the city cycle and 346 combined.
Why is highway range lower than city range for an EV?
Because an electric car wastes nothing while stopped and recovers energy when slowing down, both of which favour town driving, while at motorway speed aerodynamic drag rises with the square of speed and there is no regeneration to offset it.
Is the EPA highway figure what I will actually get?
No, and it is not meant to be. It is a standard laboratory cycle, which is what makes it comparable between cars. Treat it as a ranking tool rather than a promise, and see the observed real-world figure on each car page for a mixed-conditions number measured on the road.
Why are some cars missing?
Only cars with a US EPA certification can appear. The cars in this database sold solely in Europe have no such rating, and are listed by name under data coverage above rather than estimated into the table.
Sources
EPA combined, city and highway range: US Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy — fueleconomy.gov, per-vehicle certification records, each credited with its record number on the individual car pages. Standing assumptions are on the methodology page.