Some like it hot...

...but what about electric cars? We find out how much their ranges can be affected by extreme temperatures on a Spanish road trip

- Will Nightingale

It's a well-known fact that electric cars don't like cold weather. In short, you'll enjoy a longer range and better efficiency on a warm summer's day than in the depths of winter. But what about when it's hot? Really hot? While extreme heat is still (thankfully) quite rare in the UK, the planet is undoubtedly heating up. We've already seen temperatures of more than 40deg C in the south and multiple heatwaves have swept the country this summer.

The situation is even more extreme in southern Europe, where temperatures have hit record highs in recent years and wildfires have ravaged communities like never before. And that begs the question: what effect will rising temperatures have on the electric vehicles (EVs) most of us will be driving around in soon, if we aren't already?

To find out, we decided to head to the hottest part of Europe with three popular EVs. The cheapest is the Citroën e-C3 Max, which costs £22,295 (after the £1500 Electric Car Grant for EVs costing less than £37,000 has been factored in) and has an official range of 199 miles.

Next up is the Kia EV3, our reigning Small Electric SUV of the Year. It's appearing here in Long Range GT-Line S form with a 78kWh usable capacity battery. Its official range is 362 miles and it wears a list price of £43,005.

Our third and final contender is the Tesla Model 3, featuring here in its longest-range form. That means a 75kWh battery, a single motor driving the rear wheels and one of the longest official ranges of any EV on sale: a whopping 436 miles. If you want one of these, you'll be spending £44,990.

THE PREPARATION