How Many KMs Will an EV Travel When its Battery is Flat? 

CAA has answered the question that many motorists ask: How many kilometres can an electric vehicle travel when its battery is exhausted? The short answer is: It depends. In fact, it’s a case-by-case answer for each model.

As part of a series of winter tests on EVs organized by CAA, we were able to check the actual range remaining when the battery is theoretically exhausted.

The exercise was carried out on February 4th using ten electric vehicles. A route from downtown Ottawa to Mont-Tremblant had been mapped out in advance. To standardize the test parameters, each driver had to ensure that the temperature setting was fixed at 21°C, that the steering wheel and heated seats were not activated, that the cruise control was not on and that the speed limits were not exceeded by more than 5 km/h.

Up to 28 km beyond a displayed 0 km range and 0% battery state of charge.

Following this winter test, the CAA compiled all the results obtained by the different teams. In descending order, they are in a table showing the distance travelled after the range displayed was 0 km and 0% battery charge.

We Drove 19 KM More Despite the Kia Niro EV’s Indicated 0 KM Range and 0% State of Charge

In light of these results, it’s interesting to note that the 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV and the 2025 Honda Prologue could cover 28 kilometres after their batteries were theoretically exhausted. The crossover and the pickup are built on General Motors’ Ultium electric platform. In contrast, the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV, also built on this architecture, could only cover 7 kilometres after the dashboard indicated a remaining range of 0 kilometres and 0%.

Once the battery was theoretically drained, the 2025 Ford Mustang Mach-E and the 2025 Tesla Model 3 could drive an additional 25 kilometres.

As for the 2024 Toyota bZ4X, 2024 Volkswagen ID.4 and 2024 Volvo XC40 Recharge, the distance covered after displaying the remaining range at 0 kilometres and 0% was 5, 5 and 4 kilometres, respectively.

As for our team, we were aboard the Kia Niro EV, which was able to cover precisely 19 kilometres after its battery ran out of charge.

Some sobering results

At the end of this exercise, we wondered about the significance of the results. Is it desirable for an electric vehicle to be able to travel almost thirty kilometres after its battery has theoretically run down? Wouldn’t this instead be a sign of an inaccurate estimate of the remaining range? We’re still wondering.