When we talk about electric vehicles (EVs), the range is usually the number that gets the most attention. How many kilometres can the vehicle travel on a single charge? How quickly can it charge? How large is its battery? But there is another question that may become just as important as range itself: How much energy does the vehicle consume to travel each kilometre, and what does that ultimately cost the driver? As EV adoption matures, efficiency may become a more meaningful measure of engineering excellence than absolute range.
An EV that can travel 500 kilometres on a single charge sounds impressive. But if another vehicle can travel the same distance using less energy, the engineering achievement is arguably more significant. And if an EV can travel further without simply adding more battery capacity, we begin to change the economics of electric mobility.
India's EV market is already moving in that direction. The country recorded more than 24.5 lakh EV retail sales in FY2025-26, a 24.63% increase over the previous year, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). Electric passenger vehicles also continued to gain ground, with their share of passenger vehicle retail sales reaching 4.25% during the year.
As more consumers make the switch, their questions will become increasingly practical. How far can I go? What will it cost me to run the vehicle? How often will I need to charge? And perhaps most importantly, can an EV deliver more kilometres for every rupee I spend? These are not questions that can be answered by looking at the battery alone.
For years, the simplest answer to greater range has been to add more battery capacity. More stored energy generally means more kilometres. But it also means more weight, more material and potentially more cost. At some point, carrying more energy to travel further becomes an inefficient way of solving the problem. The more interesting opportunity is to make the vehicle itself better at using the energy it already has.
{{/usCountry}}For years, the simplest answer to greater range has been to add more battery capacity. More stored energy generally means more kilometres. But it also means more weight, more material and potentially more cost. At some point, carrying more energy to travel further becomes an inefficient way of solving the problem. The more interesting opportunity is to make the vehicle itself better at using the energy it already has.
{{/usCountry}}Every time an EV moves, energy is being used to overcome resistance, manage heat, operate systems and respond to changing driving conditions. Some energy can be recovered, and some is inevitably lost. The engineering opportunity lies in understanding where those losses occur and finding ways to reduce them.
A lighter vehicle requires less energy to move. Better aerodynamics can reduce resistance at speed. Smarter thermal management can improve system efficiency. Intelligent energy management can optimise how power is distributed, while software can bring these different systems together. None of these ideas is revolutionary in isolation. What is changing is the ability to bring them together.
The best EVs of the future will increasingly be engineered as complete systems rather than collections of individual components. A decision in vehicle architecture can affect efficiency. A software intervention can influence energy consumption. A change in thermal strategy can affect performance. An improvement in aerodynamics can translate into additional kilometres.
The real challenge is, therefore, not simply to improve one component. It is to understand how the entire vehicle behaves and find where relatively small improvements can create a much larger outcome. This is where digital engineering becomes important.
Engineers can increasingly simulate different vehicle architectures, model aerodynamic performance, test thermal behaviour and assess energy consumption before physical prototypes are built. This allows teams to identify trade-offs earlier and make more informed decisions about where an additional kilometre of range is worth pursuing and where it may come at too high a cost.
For an OEM, increasing range while keeping vehicle cost under control is a balancing act. Customers want more kilometres, but do not necessarily want to pay significantly more for them. They want performance, but not at the expense of efficiency. They want technology, but also practicality. Engineering sits at the centre of these trade-offs.
For OEMs, efficiency creates value beyond the customer experience. A vehicle that requires less energy per kilometre can potentially achieve target range with a smaller battery pack, reducing weight, manufacturing cost and dependency on critical materials. This allows manufacturers to optimise the balance between range, performance and affordability while improving overall vehicle economics. In an increasingly competitive EV market, efficiency becomes not just a technical objective but a business advantage.
If a vehicle can travel further using the same amount of energy, the benefit is felt every time it is driven. A lower energy requirement per kilometre can translate into lower running costs over the life of the vehicle, while giving OEMs greater flexibility in balancing range, performance, weight and cost. The future of EV efficiency may therefore not depend on finding one breakthrough technology. It may depend on making hundreds of better engineering decisions.
The industry has already demonstrated that EVs can deliver compelling performance and range. The opportunity now is to make them increasingly efficient, economical and accessible. Ultimately, the question may not be how much energy we can put into an EV. It may be how much more distance, performance and value we can create from the energy already available.
As electric mobility scales, the vehicles that stand out will not necessarily be those with the biggest batteries or the highest range figures. They will increasingly be the ones that convert energy into mobility most effectively. The next chapter of EV innovation will be defined by efficiency, delivering more kilometres, lower operating costs and greater sustainability from every kilowatt-hour. In the end, the winners may not be the vehicles that store the most energy, but those that make every unit of energy work harder.
(The views expressed are personal)
This article is authored by Marc Mans, deputy vice president & senior delivery partner, ESS Tata Technologies.