Forget China: Europe Is Winning the Long-Range EV Race

Chinese manufacturers have spent the last two years eating into Europe’s cheap and mid-range EV segment, and the headlines about that shift keep coming. But look at the actual longest range electric cars you can order in Europe today, and a completely different picture shows up. Seven of the top ten spots belong to European brands. The one non-European name at the very top is barely sold on the continent at all. And Chinese manufacturers, for all their progress lower down the market, don’t have a single car that gets anywhere near this list.

Rank	Model	WLTP range
1	Lucid Air Grand Touring	up to 960 km (597 miles)
2	Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+	up to 926 km (575 miles)
3	BMW i3	up to 906 km (563 miles)
4	Volvo EX60 P12 AWD	up to 810 km (503 miles)
5	BMW iX3 50 xDrive	up to 805 km (500 miles)
6	Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+	up to 792 km (492 miles)
7	Audi A6 e-tron Sportback Performance	up to 776 km (482 miles)
8	Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD	up to 750 km (466 miles)
9	DS N°8 FWD Long Range	up to 750 km (466 miles)
10	Lucid Gravity Grand Touring	up to 748 km (465 miles)

Take out Lucid, and the picture gets even more lopsided. Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Audi and DS, a French brand under the Stellantis umbrella, fill six of the remaining eight places, with Tesla as the only non-European name still standing. Every figure above is WLTP, the European lab standard, and every car above is genuinely orderable in Europe today, not just announced. If you want to understand how to turn one of these numbers into a realistic estimate of what you’d actually get on the road, I broke that down properly in our WLTP vs CLTC explainer.

Lucid Air Grand Touring, up to 960 km

Lucid has held the range crown for a while now, and the Grand Touring still isn’t close to being caught. Lucid’s own investor communications confirm the 960 km WLTP figure. The Air even went on to win the 2026 NAF Winter Test in Norway by covering 520 km without a charging stop in temperatures of minus 31 degrees. It produces 611 kW (831 PS) and can add up to 400 km of range in 16 minutes of fast charging.

Why do Chinese EVs advertise ranges over 1,000 km if they don’t make this list?
Those figures are usually CLTC ratings on larger battery variants sold only in China, not the smaller batteries and WLTP figures offered on the European-market versions of the same cars.

Worth flagging before you get too excited about that number though: Lucid’s actual footprint in Europe is still tiny. The brand currently sells through showrooms in only a handful of countries, and monthly sales volumes across the entire continent have been in the single or low double digits. It earns its spot at the top of this list on the number alone, but if you’re shopping rather than just reading about range records, availability near you is worth checking before anything else. The same goes for its sibling further down this list, the Lucid Gravity, so of the three non-European cars that make this top 10, two of them are barely sold here at all.

Mercedes-Benz EQS 450+, up to 926 km

The facelifted EQS jumped from 400 volt to 800 volt architecture and picked up a larger 122 kWh battery with revised silicon oxide graphite cell chemistry. Mercedes has confirmed order books are open in Germany now, with the 926 km figure a 13 percent jump over the outgoing car. The facelift also introduces steer-by-wire technology, a first for any German automaker in a production car. DC charging now tops out at 350 kW, adding 320 km of range in ten minutes.

BMW i3 50 xDrive First Edition, up to 906 km

Only the First Edition is actually orderable right now, and it’s rated at up to 906 km WLTP. The standard i3 50 xDrive, which BMW rates slightly higher at up to 912 km, doesn’t open for orders until the end of September, so it isn’t something you can buy today even though you’ll see that higher figure quoted in some coverage. Full breakdown of the battery, motor and software behind the car, including where BMW’s own order pages confirm these figures, is in my BMW i3 deep dive.

Volvo EX60 P12 AWD, up to 810 km

Volvo’s first model on its new SPA3 platform started customer deliveries in Europe in July, and the range topping P12 AWD variant delivers 500 kW (680 hp) alongside that 810 km figure, Volvo’s longest range car to date. It uses megacasting and cell to body battery integration, and Volvo says it can add 340 km of range in a 10 minute fast charge.

BMW iX3 50 xDrive, up to 805 km

The first Neue Klasse model overall, already on sale and delivering to customers. It shares its 108.7 kWh battery and 345 kW (469 hp) drivetrain with the i3, just in a heavier body with slightly more drag. I covered the platform behind it in the same BMW i3 article.

Is WLTP range the same as real world range?
No. WLTP is a standardised European lab test that allows fair comparison between models, but real world range is typically lower depending on speed, weather and driving style.

Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+, up to 792 km

The CLA is proof that long range doesn’t require a huge luxury body. It’s a compact sedan with an 85 kWh usable NMC battery and a single 200 kW rear motor, and it’s been on sale and delivering since 2025. Mercedes confirmed the 792 km figure at launch, alongside 800 volt architecture and 320 kW DC charging.

Audi A6 e-tron Sportback Performance, up to 776 km

Built on the same Premium Platform Electric architecture as the Porsche Macan and Audi Q6 e-tron, the A6 e-tron performance (Audi’s own naming for the single motor, rear wheel drive, longest range version) uses a 94.9 kWh net NMC battery. Despite prioritising range over outright pace, it still manages 0 to 100 km/h in 5.4 seconds.

Tesla Model 3 Long Range RWD and DS N°8 FWD Long Range, tied at up to 750 km

Two very different cars land in exactly the same spot. Tesla pushed the Model 3 Long Range RWD’s WLTP figure up from 702 km to 750 km through a European update in late 2025, using a 75 kWh NMC battery. DS Automobiles’ N°8, the French brand’s electric flagship SUV coupe, matches that exact figure with a bigger 97.2 kWh NMC battery, a claim confirmed directly through DS Automobiles’ own press site.

Lucid Gravity Grand Touring, up to 748 km

Lucid’s three row SUV started European deliveries in Germany and Switzerland in the first quarter of 2026, and has been delivering steadily since. It uses the same proprietary powertrain approach as the Air, just scaled into a much bigger body, and Lucid rates it at up to 748 km WLTP, with up to 400 km added in 14 minutes of fast charging. The same availability caveat as the Air applies here too, since Lucid’s European rollout is still limited to a small number of markets.

Just missing the cutoff, and what’s coming before the end of the year

A handful of cars sit right behind this top 10, close enough that a wheel size difference could shuffle the order. The Mercedes-Benz GLC 400 4Matic leads that group at up to 715 km, followed by the MG IM5 Long Range at around 710 km, the Volkswagen ID.7 Pro S at 709 km, and the Polestar 3 Long Range Single Motor at 706 km, which has been orderable in Europe since 2024 and still holds a Guinness World Record for the longest single charge journey by an electric SUV. The Tesla Model S would otherwise fit right into this conversation, but Tesla ended production of it entirely in May this year as it shifts factory space toward building its Optimus robot, so it no longer qualifies as a car you can buy new.

Two more cars are worth watching closely, but neither is available to order yet. BMW’s new iX5 60 xDrive had its world premiere in June with a claimed WLTP range of up to 845 km, which would put it high on this entire list if the figure holds, but that number is still preliminary and hasn’t gone through final WLTP certification. BMW’s own rollout plan points to order books opening around October, with deliveries following in the first quarter of 2027. Lancia’s revived Gamma claims over 740 km according to Stellantis, which would tie it with the Tesla Model 3 and DS N°8, but the company says order books won’t open until after summer.

Every battery on this list, without exception, uses NMC chemistry rather than LFP. You can go through the trade offs between the two in more depth in my LFP vs NMC explainer. If the price tags on this list feel out of reach, you don’t have to spend a fortune for long range anymore. My piece on EVs under €40,000 that still deliver 500 km of range shows exactly what’s available.

Featured Image: BMW