The new Tesla Model S has a 300-mile range*

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the facelifted Tesla Model S 90D can do 303.2miles on a single charge. We know of no other EV with a bigger range. But before you get all excited, there’s something you need to know.

Driven normally, a Model S might not do more than 300 miles on a charge. In fact it probably won’t. The EPA’s figure is for 'highway' mileage – the equivalent to ‘extra-urban’ figures here in the UK, but not really comparable because the test cycles are apparently harsher in the States – and is extrapolated from lab tests on a dyno via some complicated maths rather than real-world driving. Turn the heater on because it’s cold, and the range will take a dive.

Not surprising, but worth knowing nonetheless. It’s not like your average petrol- or diesel-powered car gets anything like its claimed mpg figures. either…

Want the combined figure? The all-wheel drive 90D – not the performance model, might we add – has an official 'city & highway' range of 294 miles, 24 miles up on the pre-facelift 90D. This is thanks mainly to better aero and efficiency improvements made to the drivetrain.

We don’t know whether you’ll get anything like 294 miles from a charge, but particularly committed owners have eked older Teslas through more than 500 miles on a single charge (admittedly by driving at a steady 20mph and over-inflating the tyres), so you never know…