BYD of China, the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles, has started its main assault on European markets with the ATTO 3. BYD has an awesome reputation for technical excellence and efficiency but European manufacturers can take some solace from the fact the ATTO 3’s battery prowess doesn’t extend to long-distance fast-lane cruising where it’s firmly in the mediocre camp. 

The media have neglected this aspect of electric cars. Most range claims are based on an average of 55 mph, an area where battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are very efficient. Europe’s motorways mainly have an 80-mph speed limit. The jump from 55 mph to 80 mph has a devastating impact on a BEVs range. 

Peter Wells, Professor of Business and Sustainability at Cardiff Business School, put it this way to me in an interview earlier this year. 

“Range falls off a cliff at high speed. For an electric car, the extra energy required getting from 60 mph to 75 mph is astonishing and virtually doubles energy consumption to move all that air out of the way,” Wells said. 

At steady, legal motorway cruising speeds the ATTO 3 shed battery capacity at a 61.1% rate, giving it a fast lane range of just under 159 miles. That puts it in the top third of my table, just above the Skoda Enyaq’s 158 miles, just below the Mercedes EQA’s 162 miles, but not even close to the Tesla Model 3’s leading 239 miles. The ATTO battery is rated at 260 miles overall capacity.