The consumer organization M Sweden, formerly Motormännen, and the Norwegian motor association NAF have during the year tested how far electric cars can go during Scandinavian winter.

And the result in several car models is a range loss of over 25 percent.

Then the cars were already warmed up at the start, which means that the loss can be even greater if the battery is cold.

At the same time, the result differs greatly between different car brands and models, from 14 to 26 percent.

- We believe that it is necessary to be able to say how much worse the car can become.

Now you have no idea how the range changes until you test, says Carl-Erik Stjernvall, technical expert at M Sweden.

Notifications to ARN

In recent years, ARN, the General Complaints Board, has however only received a small number of reports from consumers who consider that they did not receive sufficient information about how much worse the range becomes during winter cold when they bought their electric car.

There is a risk that these notifications will increase when more and more people buy their first electric car without being particularly knowledgeable, says Carl-Erik Stjernvall.

And reading various tests online is not something you should have to do as a car buyer.

- You may not expect any deterioration in range at all and as a consumer you are not obliged to know such things.

On the contrary, it is the companies that are responsible for giving an account of the car's characteristics.

"There is room for better communication"

Mattias Bergman, CEO of the industry organization Mobility Sweden, believes that they urge their members to inform about how much energy is used in different weather, but agrees that the information has been insufficient.

- Since there are so many consumers who do not understand, there is clearly room for better communication, he says.

Bergman also points out that even cars with internal combustion engines draw more energy when it's cold.

Charlotte Thulin, PR and communications manager at Nissan Sweden, believes that an industry-wide consumption figure for cold climates would likely make it easier for consumers, regardless of fuel.

"We would like to see a WLTP figure for cold climates in order to get a more comparable figure that explains how, for example, cold temperature affects the range," she writes in an email to SVT.