Electric vehicles are renowned for their merits such as reduced pollution, no emission and small reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels, yet their adoption is low. The low adoption of electric vehicles is due to their disadvantages such as low range, long charging hours and some potential consumers have the fear of running out of charge while driving. A prediction of the energy consumption of an electric vehicle helps to alleviate such fear. In this work simulation results are presented which compare the energy consumption of a Toyota Prius, a hybrid electric vehicle modeled in ADVISOR simulation package, when used under summer European and Palapye Botswana ambient conditions respectively. The New European Driving Cycle was used and ambient conditions were varied in the input parameters. Results show that the state of charge are respectively 50% and 54% under hotter conditions of Palapye and a European country. The gradient of the state of charge of the battery pack during the simulation period is also steeper for Palapye conditions than for a European country which shows that energy is consumed at a higher rate in the former. Based on the difference in the state of charge for both conditions, results show that there was an 8% higher energy consumption under Palapye’s conditions. The results can inform consumers on what to expect when purchasing and operating a hybrid electric vehicle. Results also provide a guide for the design of electric vehicles intended for use in a semi-arid country such as Botswana. It can be concluded that electric vehicles consume more energy under harsher or more hostile environmental conditions owing to the use of auxiliary systems such as air conditioners and other temperature control systems. Future research work needs to develop better battery storage systems and driving cycles that accurately model conditions in hot climate regions.