WLTP

What WLTP means

WLTP stands for Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure. It replaced the older NEDC cycle for new car certifications in Australia from around 2019 onwards, and it’s the number you’ll see quoted on every new EV listing - the one that gets circled in dealer brochures and used in comparison tables.

The test runs the vehicle through four driving phases - low speed (up to 56 km/h), medium (76 km/h), high (97 km/h), and extra-high (131 km/h) - over a combined 23.25 km at an average of 46.5 km/h. Temperature is controlled between 14°C and 23°C. Some electrical loads are switched on. The battery starts fully charged and the car drives until it runs flat, recording energy used per kilometre throughout.

Why the real number is lower

The WLTP cycle is more representative than NEDC was, but it still isn’t your commute. A few things shift the result in practice:

Temperature. Battery chemistry slows down in the cold. Below 10°C you can lose 15–20% of range just from reduced chemical efficiency, before the cabin heater adds its own draw. Most of Australia’s population centres don’t hit those temperatures often, but Canberra in winter is a different story.

Speed. Aerodynamic drag increases with the square of speed. The difference between driving at 100 km/h and 120 km/h isn’t 20% more energy use - it’s roughly 44% more. If you spend a lot of time on the freeway at 110 km/h, the WLTP highway figure is a closer reference than the combined number.

Payload and accessories. The test is run light. Four adults, a full boot, and the air conditioning on hard is a different vehicle dynamically.

A useful rough rule: take WLTP combined range and subtract 15% for mixed urban and highway driving in mild conditions. On a long highway run at 110 km/h in summer with the air on, subtract 20–25%.

How manufacturers inflate the headline number

WLTP allows some flexibility in how testing is conducted - specifically around optional equipment (some add aerodynamic drag, others don’t) and the choice of which tyre size to test with. It’s legal and common for manufacturers to test with the most aerodynamic wheel and tyre configuration, then sell the car with larger, less efficient options. The Polestar 2 with 20-inch wheels will use more energy per kilometre than the figure quoted from testing on 18s.

What to actually look at

The WLTP combined figure is a fair starting point for comparisons between vehicles. What it isn’t is a trip-planning number. For that, look at real-world data from ABRP (A Better Route Planner), which aggregates actual user drives, or EV-database.org, which publishes tested real-world range at 100 km/h and 120 km/h separately from the WLTP result.

If you’re doing most of your driving in the city, WLTP will likely understate your actual range - EVs recover energy through regenerative braking on every deceleration, and urban driving is full of stops.