What does my EV's battery capacity (kWh) mean?

Battery capacity, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), is essentially the size of your EV's "fuel tank" — it tells you how much energy the battery can store when fully charged.

How it relates to range:

• A larger kWh figure generally means a longer potential range, though efficiency (how much energy the car uses per mile) matters just as much as raw capacity — two EVs with the same battery size can have quite different real-world ranges
• Manufacturers sometimes quote both a total capacity and a usable capacity, since a small buffer is often reserved to protect battery longevity — usable capacity is the more accurate figure for estimating real-world range

Why it's worth understanding, not just quoting:

kWh capacity is a useful figure for comparing EVs, but it's most meaningful alongside the vehicle's efficiency rating (often shown as miles per kWh) rather than on its own. Two cars with an identical battery size can have noticeably different real-world ranges depending on weight, aerodynamics, and drivetrain efficiency — so it's worth looking at both figures together rather than assuming a bigger battery number always means a longer range.