Green NCAP has taken a hard look at how today’s electric cars cope with real-world use, and the headline is simple: cold weather and fast roads still punish range, especially for the smallest batteries.
The independent lab put three EVs – Dacia Spring, Hyundai Inster and Volkswagen ID.4 – through a new “Driver Experience” programme, alongside a petrol SEAT Ibiza as a reference.
Tests were run at -7°C, on mixed routes and motorways, with and without cabin pre-heating, and then backed up with a full life-cycle carbon assessment.
The tiny Dacia Spring comes out as the city specialist. With a 27.6kWh usable battery and just 979kg to move, it managed an estimated 180km in warm mixed driving.
Drop the temperature and that falls to 133km, and only 119km on a cold motorway run – a “Poor” range rating that clearly marks it out as a short-hop EV.
Hyundai’s Inster, with 49kWh on board, does much better. Green NCAP estimates 322km in mild conditions and 219km in a winter mixed cycle, though its motorway range also slumps to 199km in the cold.
The larger ID.4 Pure, running a 52kWh pack, is the most usable at speed: around 304km in warm mixed driving and 193km on a cold motorway, enough to keep family-car duties realistic.
Heating systems make a big difference. The Spring’s simple PTC heater never brings the footwells up to target temperature and, because the battery is so small, pre-conditioning barely helps its range.
The Inster’s combination of PTC and heat pump is slower to warm but more efficient and offers remote seat and wheel heating, while the ID.4 impressed testers by quickly heating the whole cabin and clawing back up to 79km of urban range through pre-heating in winter.
Fast-charging performance is rated only “Adequate” across the board, but shows clear gaps.
The Spring peaks at 34kW and needs about 40 minutes from 10–80 percent; the Inster cuts that to roughly 31 minutes at around 81kW; the ID.4, if pre-conditioned, can briefly pull 155kW and reach 80 percent in about 27 minutes.
On sustainability, though, small wins. Thanks to its low weight and tiny pack, the Spring scores a perfect five-star Sustainability Rating and 90g/km CO2-equivalent over its life cycle, with the Inster close behind and the heavier ID.4 still strong on 4½ stars.
The petrol Ibiza is efficient for an ICE car, but simply can’t match the EVs’ long-term carbon footprint.
