Every online shopper has faced the Amazon dilemma.
After 10 minutes of scrolling, you’ll find the perfect item that meets all your needs and looks amazing. You can even check reviews to make sure the community is happy with their purchase.
However, when you receive the item, it looks different than the item online and doesn’t perform as you expected. (By the way, Wired has helpful tips on spotting fake reviews.)
As frustrating as this is for an off-brand video game controller or a $45 stainless steel cooking pot, imagine how frustrating it is to spend tens of thousands of dollars on an electric car when its range per charge is more than 50 miles lower than advertised.
But every now and then, our online shopping goals perform even better than we expected, and some vehicles exceed their EPA-estimated mileage.
The federal government strictly regulates motor vehicle fuel efficiency standards. For electric vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency range is the official estimate of how far an electric vehicle can travel on a single charge. The EPA estimates that one gallon of gasoline has the equivalent of 33.7 kilowatt hours of electricity.
In other words, driving 100 miles on a 33.7-kilowatt-hour plug-in car uses the equivalent of one gallon of gasoline. Or at least that should be the standard.
Many electric vehicles perform much worse on the highway than their advertised EPA ranges suggest, according to a new study from Consumer Reports.
But many vehicles also outperformed EPA estimates, leaving owners with 10 or 20 more miles than expected.
The EPA says its testing takes charging losses into account as small amounts of energy are lost through energy conversion and heat. But some real-world results in the Consumer Reports study can’t be explained by spillover.
Alex Knizek, director of automotive testing development at Consumer Reports, explained that the discrepancy is not unexpected because the EPA conducts testing in the lab using a standardized combination of highway and city driving, while Consumer Reports uses a real-world highway range.
However, he admitted it was an unfair dilemma for car buyers.
“When comparing cars, buyers need to know what range of cars they’re getting for their money,” Knizek said. “If you run out of battery on the highway, you may need to be towed, which is inconvenient and expensive.”
Founded in 1936 by a group of laid-off employees from Consumers’ Research, Consumer Reports is a diverse, nonprofit organization that educates consumers about products and helps them make informed buying decisions.
It does this by purchasing and testing products directly, conducting detailed surveys of products owned and used by its members, and investigating the veracity of manufacturer claims.
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Date of establishment: 1936 (Former employees of the Consumer Research Center formed the Consumers Union and were fired after trying to form a union)
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Headquarters: Yonkers, New York
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lead: Marta Terrado, President and CEO
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employee: About. 500 to 600
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member: At least 6 million
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Mission statement: “Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit membership organization that works side by side with consumers to achieve truth, transparency and fairness in the marketplace.”
Consumer Reports’ slogan, “Smarter Choices, a Better World,” embodies the organization’s purpose. CR aims to educate and inform the public by providing objective information on popular products, helping consumers make “more informed choices” when purchasing major items.
Consumer Reports calls the EPA’s mile-per-gallon equivalent calculation “outdated” and its methodology impractical.
“That’s why we buy vehicles like consumers and drive them at highway speeds like consumers take road trips,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of CR’s Automotive Test Center.
In this report, Consumer Reports tested electric vehicles over a highway speed range, driving a fully charged vehicle at a steady 70 mph until the battery was depleted. Even when the vehicle’s display showed zero miles of range, testers didn’t stop driving until the car came to a stop.
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Model: 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5N, AWD, 21-inch wheels
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EPA scope: 221 miles
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consumer reports highway range:236 miles (+15 mile difference)
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Model: 2025 Mini Countyman SE All4 AWD, 18-inch wheels
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EPA scope: 212 miles
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consumer reports highway range:237 (+25 miles)
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Model: 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV 350 4Matic, all-wheel drive, 20-inch wheels
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EPA scope: 253 miles
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consumer reports highway range:284 miles (+31 miles)
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Model: 2023 BMW i5, M60, AWD, 20-inch wheels
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EPA scope: 250 miles
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consumer reports highway range:295 miles (+45 miles)
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Model: 2023 BMW i4 M50, AWD, 19-inch wheels
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EPA scope: 267 miles
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consumer reports highway range:318 miles (+51 miles)
RELATED: Consumer Reports warns about 5 of the most expensive vehicles with hidden fees
This article was originally published by TheStreet on March 22, 2026, and first appeared in the Automotive section. Click here to add TheStreet as your preferred source.