All 15 electric cars in AUTOBEST’s 2026 ECOBEST Challenge kept moving after their dashboards showed no range, but the distances varied enormously. The Xpeng P7+ covered about 0.6 miles past zero, while the Leapmotor B10 managed 19.9 miles (32 km). The field averaged roughly 10 miles.
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The test ran Sept. 28 to 30 at Quattroruote’s Vairano proving ground and on roads near Milan, with results published Nov. 4. The zero-range stage was one part of a seven-test series that also measured charging at 22 kW AC and 400 kW DC stations, with DC runs from 20% to 80% and AC from 0% to 100%. Every car was a regular production model priced below 65,000 euros before taxes, a cap that spans small and affordable cars such as the Renault Twingo and Kia EV2 and premium ones such as the BMW iX3 and Volvo EX60, driven in convoy behind a lead vehicle that set the pace across three circuits of motorway, extra-urban and urban roads, with climate control on and temperatures between 68 and 77 F (20 to 25 C).
The 15 cars and the order they stopped in
InsideEVs reported three results by name. The Leapmotor B10 led at 19.9 miles, the Tesla Model Y came second at 19.3 miles (31 km), and the Xpeng P7+ finished last at 0.6 miles. AUTOBEST’s own list of entrants is the Audi Q4 e-tron, BMW iX3, BYD Atto 2, Citroen e-C5 Aircross, Kia EV2, Leapmotor B10, Mazda6e, Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+, Opel/Vauxhall Grandland Electric, Peugeot e-5008, Renault Twingo, Tesla Model Y, Volvo EX60, Xpeng P7+ and Zeekr 7GT.
Neither source gives per-car distances for the other twelve, so no ranking beyond first, second and last can be built from published material. AUTOBEST’s summary of the challenge gives the fleet average as 16.11 km, about 10 miles, up from 11.1 km in the previous edition.
Reserve buffers and the gap between 0% and zero miles
InsideEVs notes that a car can show 0% charge while still predicting some range, so 0% and zero miles do not always coincide. Each manufacturer decides how much hidden buffer sits below the displayed zero, and the spread from 0.6 to 19.9 miles most likely reflects those software choices as much as the batteries themselves. The Leapmotor B10, built in Europe under a production arrangement with Stellantis, turned out to carry the deepest cushion. A displayed 0% is a software state, not a physical one, and the distance from displayed zero to a full stop ran from about 1 km for the Xpeng to 32 km for the Leapmotor.
The Tesla Model Y, a car InsideEVs follows on its Model Y page, trailed the B10 by only 0.6 miles. The Xpeng P7+, covered on InsideEVs’ Xpeng page, effectively stopped as soon as the display read empty. Between those extremes sits the 10-mile average, so the B10 and the Model Y finished at roughly double the field’s typical reserve.
Convoy rules and the rescue of stalled cars
Drivers swapped cars every 19 miles (30 km) to offset individual driving styles, and each car carried one person with infotainment on and tires at the recommended pressure. Cars ran in Normal mode, using the brake regeneration setting in town where one existed. After the display reached 0%, each driver continued until the car could no longer move under its own power.
Data was logged with the Power Check Control app connected to each car through a Bluetooth OBD-II dongle, using Quattroruote’s ISO 9001-certified procedures with verification by Bureau Veritas for the fourth consecutive year. A Zeekr 7GT served as the rescue vehicle, using vehicle-to-load power to restart cars that had stalled, a first for the challenge. AUTOBEST presented the rescue as a demonstration that one electric car can supply power to another.
AUTOBEST’s advice on driving into the reserve
AUTOBEST advises motorists not to rely on the reserve and to recharge before the battery reads 0%. AUTOBEST calls itself an independent international organisation. Dan Vardie, its founder and chairman, said the industry is still far from the efficiency target of 10 km per kWh by 2030 at the pace seen in recent years. Alessio Viola, a Quattroruote senior editor and vice-president of the AUTOBEST jury, said the group is not for or against electric cars, petrol cars or any manufacturer, and that the results exist to inform motorists rather than prove anyone right or wrong. Ferruccio Lamborghini, grandson of the carmaker’s founder, attended as a special guest at Vardie’s invitation and drove test cars alongside the jury.
Cross-test comparisons need care. InsideEVs cites a Tesla Model 3 that went 31 miles past 0% in a separate range test, a different procedure from this convoy. At the low end the Xpeng stopped within about 1 km, the only reserve figure a cautious driver could have planned around. The twelve unreported results are the missing piece, since AUTOBEST’s full tables would show whether the field clusters near the 10-mile average or sits at the extremes.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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