How to choose an electric car?

Lots of questions stand in the way of making an easy choice when getting your first electric car. Here we provide a guide on 3 easy factors to consider.

As electric car numbers continue to grow each month in the UK — Tesla Model 3 was the best selling car in the UK in June 2021, with pure battery electric vehicle sales increasing in June 2021 by +122.9% versus last year — we get lots of customers unsure about which electric car works best for them. The questions centre mostly around ‘What factors apart from range should I consider?’; ‘Which brand is the best outside of Tesla?’; ‘What’s the most affordable electric car in the market?’; ‘How do I make a choice that’s at the cutting edge of battery efficiency?’; and ‘How do I know I will be able to easily charge it?’

Although these are all very valid questions, we want to suggest looking at three factors in making a choice that we call the A.R.E metrics:

1. Affordability: the purchase price (or lease rental prices) at retail recommended prices of the car
2. Range: the real world maximum battery range you can expect from the car
3. Efficiency: purchase price of the car versus its battery range

Let’s look at these in more details, in addition to a ranking of the UK’s top ten electric cars using each of these metrics.

A. Affordability:

A key factor will always be what you can afford, and its important to be realistic with this. Both if you are looking at making an outright purchase or at leasing options.

According to the Electric Vehicle Database, electric cars in the UK market have Recommended Retail Prices (RRPs) starting at £19,200 for the Smart EQ fortwo Coupe and getting up to as high as £139,000 for the Porsche Taycan Turbo S.

Below we provide a ranking of the 10 most affordable electric vehicles by purchase price:

B. Range:

Putting aside price for one moment, its always worth considering which electric cars give you the most range. Although the top bracket of these will be the premium segment electric cars, its always good to understand the current battery capabilities across the market and those for soon to launch electric cars.

Below we provide a ranking of the 10 highest range electric vehicles both available currently and those to available from 2022:

C. Efficiency:

Finally, one factor we feel combines affordability and range is ‘Efficiency’. Analysing the price of the car versus the range it can achieve provides a powerful metric in selecting an electric car.

We define efficiency in economic rather than technical terms, i.e. as measured by price per range, or £ purchase price/mi in range.

Below we provide a ranking of the 10 most efficient electric cars as measured from electric cars available currently and those expected from 2022 — with the Hyundai Kona SUV having an impressive purchase price of £133/mile of range:

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ChargeBound is a company dedicated to encouraging UK drivers to go electric. Our mission is to eliminate car passenger emissions in the UK and get us closer to being carbon neutral. To find out more about what we do check out ChargeBound’s website and the solutions we are creating to make a change.

The photos and images above are sourced directly from the Electric Vehicle Database website as at 10th July 2021.