Energy efficiency is among the main reasons for the increasing popularity of electric vehicles. Even though they are significantly more efficient in comparison to internal combustion powered vehicles, their efficiency varies. In the literature a significant gap between real world energy consumption and declared figures is noted. The paper includes a review of real-world energy consumption studies and measurements and identifies variables that affect it, such as vehicle drivetrain configuration, battery management systems, traffic and environmental conditions. A simplified EV energy consumption model based on the VSP (Vehicle-Specific Power) is presented and evaluated on standard driving cycles, where it provided improvement over existing models due to the use of a charging power limiting function that better describes energy flow during braking energy regeneration. The model was also evaluated under diverse traffic conditions on trajectories obtained from traffic microsimulation using the SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility) model. A case study example demonstrating the impact of traffic light control on energy consumption was analysed as energy consumption is affected in a different way in comparison to internal combustion powered vehicles. This was illustrated by carrying out simulation with and without braking energy regeneration. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.