Electric cars are becoming more and more popular.
Zero emissions at the tail pipe, no rattly or noisy engine, effortless performance and they’re cheap to run.
Best of all, more affordable electric cars are coming onto the market all the time. MG’s ZS EV, for example.
We’ve chosen 10 of the best EVs you can buy.
One of them, the Honda E, we haven’t driven yet, but its cool styling and designed-for-the-city proportions make it an essential addition. All the others we’ve tested extensively.
So plug in and off we go…
Jaguar I-Pace
Jaguar’s stunning-looking I-Pace was built from the ground up as an electric car, so there have been no design compromises.
With the batteries low in the body, the centre of gravity is also low, which gives it excellent handling.
It’s the sportiest EV of them all and one of the best looking. The downside of the sporty handling is a ride that’s stiffer than you’d like it to be. Both Audi’s e-tron and Merc’s EQC are more comfortable to ride in.
But the I-Pace’s biggest drawback is its lack of real-world range, which can be as low as 220 miles – and in the cold it’s lower than that.
- Price: from £60,995
- Official range: 292 miles
Tesla Model 3
At last the Tesla Model 3 has arrived in the UK. The fastest-selling new car of all time follows in the wheel tracks of the pioneering Model S. The good news is that the Model 3 is much more affordable and is built to a better quality.
You have three choices: Standard Range Plus; Long Range and Performance. The former is the cheapest and has a range of 254 miles, but it’s the Long Range that grabs the headlines with 348 miles.
Both these versions are very quick, but the four-wheel drive Performance is in a different league – with 0-60mph in 3.2sec possible.
The Model 3 is also fitted with a CCS port so can use third-party (non-Tesla) rapid chargers.
- Price: from £38,500
- Official range: 254-348 miles
Mercedes-Benz EQC
Mercedes has taken its GLC SUV and fitted a 80kWh battery under its floor. The company will be building a whole range of ground-up EVs in the future but for the moment we have the EQC.
Not as sporty as the Jaguar I-Pace, the EQC’s best points are its supreme comfort and quietness.
For many buyers, that’s more important than how exciting it is to drive. Especially as driving an EV in Lewis Hamilton-style means that you’ll spend more time charging.
- Price: from £62,220
- Official range: 259 miles
Peugeot e-208
The Peugeot e-208 is the most mainstream electric car yet. It is available with petrol, diesel or electric power and apart from subtle styling differences and the badges, you can’t tell them apart.
Drive the diesel 208 and the EV back to back as we have done and you’ll immediately love the quiet of the car’s 134bhp electric motor.
The e-208 is nippy, but could have a more comfortable ride. Its ace card is the ability to charge its 50kWh battery in roughly 20 minutes using a CCS 100kW rapid charger. No other small EV can be charged that fast.
The 208 also looks stunning both inside and out.
- Price: from £25,050
- Official range: 211 miles
Tesla Model S
(Image: Reuters)
As Tesla took the bold and practical step of installing its own ‘Supercharger’ network before it sold any cars, the Model S has always been a practical EV, and its long range and free-to-use charging network makes it still the easiest EV to own.
The Model S’s performance is legendary. What’s not so good is the build quality.
For many buyers, this won’t matter because one of the Tesla’s main selling points is that it doesn’t look like anybody else’s product – from its does-everything infotainment screen to the absence of conventional switches and knobs.
- Price: from £66,390
- Official range: 280–379 miles
MG ZS EV
The Chinese-owned brand stands for good value and that’s what you get with the ZS EV.
It’s not difficult to find fault with this car: some of the interior plastics are hard to the touch, the sat-nav doesn’t tell you where the nearest charging points are and the light that tells you when the car is charging is hard to see.
There’s also no timed charging facility which means that you can’t set it to recharge at home when the electricity is cheaper.
But where it matters, the ZS EV hits the spot. Its range of 163 miles compares with its rivals, the car is spacious and drives well, and it comes with a wide range of safety technology.
- Price: from £25,495
- Official range: 163 miles
Nissan Leaf
Along with Tesla Model S, the Nissan Leaf is the pioneer of fully electric motoring.
The Leaf now comes in two versions: standard Leaf and Leaf e+. Buy the former and it has a 40kWh battery that will give you a range of 168 miles. The Leaf e+ comes with a 62kWh unit for an official range of 239 miles.
The Leaf e+ can be charged rapidly using a CHAdeMO socket, but CCS rapid charging isn’t offered.
Both Leafs are easy to drive, and there’s an impressive level of driving-assistance systems available. Nissan’s party trick is the E-Pedal which optimises its regenerative braking.
- Price: from £24,495
- Official range: 168-239 miles
Audi e-tron
Like the Mercedes-Benz EQC, Audi’s e-tron is an electrified version of an existing model.
And like the Merc, the Audi is also very quiet, refined and relaxing to drive. Its party piece is the camera system that replaces the conventional door mirrors. You look at what’s behind you on small screens placed in your line of sight.
A range of 248 miles isn’t ground-breaking but it’s partly made up for by a 150kW rapid-charging capability.
At the launch of the e-tron, only one battery size was offered but soon there’ll be a version with a smaller battery that’ll be cheaper.
- Price: from £68,060
- Official range: 248 miles
Hyundai Kona EV
The world loves crossovers, SUVs and electric cars, so why not combine the two? Hyundai was one of the first to do so with its Kona EV electric crossover.
Two versions were available at the car’s launch: one with a 39kWh battery and a more powerful one with a 62kWh battery. Their ranges are 200 and 280 miles respectively.
Unfortunately, Hyundai has dropped the less powerful model and only offers the 62kWh version, which is not cheap.
- Price: from £35,100
- Official range: 280 miles
Honda e
No journalist has driven the production-ready Honda e, but we’ll all be behind the wheel early next year. We’ve included it here because it’s an interesting little car.
Honda is aiming it at city users, which explains the modest 136-mile range. Two versions will be available – the standard e and the Advance. Both have the same battery, but the motor on the Advance has been tweaked from 134bhp to 152bhp. I suspect this new Honda will be one of the talked-about cars of 2020.
- Price: from £26,660
- Official range: 136 miles
*All prices include the deduction of the Government’s plug-in grant of £3,500
Should I go electric?
Not if, like me, you don’t have off-street parking.
I see no possibility of being able to recharge an EV in our 60-house cul de sac of terraced houses in the near or even distant future.
Of course I could use the public charging network but there isn’t much of one around here.
Range isn’t so much of an issue with modern EVs, my worry is that they’re going to be a victim of their own success. It’s not a problem today to swoop into a motorway service station and find an empty charging bay, but when thousands more EVs are on the road it will be a different matter.
Nobody uses the single charging point at my local Waitrose but that will change and I’ll find myself having to queue.
