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The Guardian
The 10 best electric cars to buy if you want to avoid Tesla
By Steve Fowler,
3 days ago
Alternative Fuel Blue City Car and EV Charging Station. Photograph: Studio Powers/Getty Images
Elon Musk is never far from a headline these days, from his recent inflammatory posts about the far-right riots in the UK to his endorsement of Donald Trump for president. But his increasingly toxic rhetoric is having a knock-on effect: some Tesla owners are starting to rethink whether they should own his electric cars any more. Sales fell in July for the second straight quarter.
It’s a shame, because Tesla makes great electric cars. I’d rate the latest Model 3 as one of the best around. It drives nicely, is built well (a previous Tesla foible), is efficient and Tesla sells it at a price that makes other EV makers do a cartoon double-take. But if you’re committed to electric cars, and Musk is turning you off Tesla, there are plenty of other good options. Established carmakers and newcomers have caught up with and, in many cases, overtaken Tesla with their electric offerings. Here are the 10 best non-Tesla EVs you can buy now; I’ve driven them all except the Renault 5, which is expected to arrive in the UK in the first quarter of 2025 .
Lease A 48-month lease starts from about £152 a month, with an initial fee of about £1,370; try selectcarleasing.co.uk for a sample lease, or offers.dacia.co.uk . However, with leasing it always pays to shop around as prices do vary. See our FAQ below for more information.
The Dacia Spring may not be the last word in sophistication, but it’s perfect for urban duties with a range of up to 140 miles and a comfortable ride.
There’s not much space inside but it will fit two adults and two kids comfortably, and you’ll get a few carry-on bags or a weekly shop in the boot. There’s air-con on every model and a 10-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone connectivity on more expensive models. There’s even an app to control charging and turn on the heater or air con before you get into the car.
Most people will bypass the entry-level car, especially as it doesn’t add too much to the monthly cost on a finance deal, and move up to the more powerful versions with more kit. The range doesn’t go any further than £16,995.
Lease A 48-month lease starts from about £423 a month, with an initial fee of around £5,501; try leasing.com for a sample lease, or volvocars.com .
Volvo’s EX30 is a clever little car that manages to feel posh, but without a premium price tag.
The audio system, instead of using speakers in the doors, has a sound bar across the dash producing an impressive noise; and the window switches have been moved to the middle of the car – all to save some cash. And the touchscreen – or Google voice control – takes care of most of the functions of the car, perhaps too many for some.
The EX30 drives nicely around town and on longer journeys, and is reasonably efficient. You can choose how far you need to go with a choice of two battery sizes (although the smaller one will only go about 200 miles), while there are three trim levels – and you can even have four-wheel drive.
When BMW launched its i3 electric car in 2013, it was ahead of its time. The interior made clever use of sustainable materials – before many people really knew what that meant – and the proportions were ideal for a city car, where the i3 feels most at home. And it still drives like a BMW, with quick acceleration and surprising agility.
Getting into the back isn’t easy: the front door needs to be open to be able to access the small, rear-hinged back door – I never did understand why – and there’s not much space in the back seats or in the boot. But whichever model you get, look after it and you may find yourself with one of the first collectible electric cars.
Used car dealers will be pushing their own finance deals, but there might be some support if you buy from BMW retailers, though. Compare deals online – you don’t have to finance through your dealer.
Lease A 36-month lease starts from about £535 a month, with an initial fee of about £6,498; try leaseloco.com for a sample lease, or kia.com .
Of the many talents the EV9 has, its style and quality – including some of the nicest sustainable fabrics you’ll find inside a bright, spacious and airy cabin – are what have impressed me the most, closely followed by the comfortable drive and the efficiency of the battery and motors. Although it’s the most expensive Kia to go on sale in the UK, it still looks like good value compared to other all-electric SUVs of a similar size.
The battery is nearly 100kWh but then the EV9 is a big, heavy car so it needs a big battery to hit those range targets and give the car a decent turn of pace.
Lease A 48-month lease starts from around £561 a month, with an initial fee of around £6,739; try leasing.com for a sample lease, or hyundai.com .
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is a great handling car with bags of grip, sharp steering and excellent body control enabling quick changes of direction.
It’s got all the sporty accoutrements you’d want, with stripes, a beefed-up body kit, loads of dials and gizmos to play with inside, bucket seats and a great noise.
Hang on. EVs are known for their silence, so how does this one make a noise? Hyundai have added a sound generator that mimics the noises you’d expect from a hot hatchback with revs rising and pops and bangs from the exhaust. If it sounds like a recipe for fake fun, fear not – it’s really addictive, but comes at a price that will make traditional hot hatch buyers wince.
Lease A 48-month lease starts from around £681 a month, with an initial fee of around £8,176; try leaseloco.com for a sample lease, or polestar.com .
The Polestar 4 – a premium coupé SUV – is one of Polestar’s greenest cars, with seats and carpets made from recycled PET plastics and fishing nets, steel from post-consumer and post-industrial waste, and the precious metals used in the EV system traced to make sure the suppliers conform with the Responsible Minerals Assurance Process.
Delve into the Polestar website and you can get more information than any other car company will give on recycled and natural materials, tracing of everything from the leather used in the car to the rare-earth metals used in the battery, and minute detail on the carbon footprint of the vehicle across different areas of production.
One gripe: it doesn’t have a back window, making do with cameras and screens to see behind instead.
As for the rest of the car, it’s delightful to look at and be in, with strong performance, decent space and comfort, and Google on board to make the tech as easy to use as possible.
This is also the first time Volkswagen has really gone toe-to-toe with Tesla, although the American company has a price advantage with its Model 3. But what the ID. 7 does give you is space – plenty of it – and range, which will put many people’s minds at ease.
The ID. 7 Pro Match with its 77kWh battery gets close to the Tesla Model 3’s 390 mile claimed range at 381 miles; move up to the Pro S Match and you get an 86kWh battery that claims a range of 436 miles.
What marks the ID. 7 out is its easy-going nature. The ride quality is superb – it feels more like a Mercedes-Benz than a Volkswagen – and it’s a quiet thing on the move.
Lease A 24-month lease starts from around £496 a month, with an initial fee of around £5,952; try leasing.com for a sample lease, or offers.bmw.co.uk .
Tesla’s range-topping Model S isn’t currently available in the UK, but for all-round luxury, the BMW i7 knocks spots off it anyway.
The luxury car market has been dominated for years by Mercedes, but while it’s dropped the ball with its latest luxury S-Class and EQS electric models, BMW has stepped up with its 7 Series – if you can get past the ugly, upright front end with its oversized grille.
The electric i7 is all about silent luxury. Most EVs are quiet, but this takes it to a whole new level – BMW has commissioned composer Hans Zimmer to create a sound so you know you’re on the move. Sound plays a bigger part in the back – with a 31-inch 8k screen that drops down from the ceiling, and a 36-speaker Bowers & Wilkins sound system.
Lease A 24-month lease starts from about £292 a month, with an initial fee of around £3,499; try leasing.com for a sample lease, or offers.renault.co.uk .
For decades, Scenic has been Renault-speak for family car. The old model kicked off the trend for affordable, small multipurpose vehicles, but now it has been reinvented as an all-electric SUV. It’s still squarely aimed at families, though, just with a bit of off-road style.
Sizeable rear doors open wide to reveal a spacious back seat with room for three. And if your kids have smartphones, they’ll love the ingenious armrest with its swivel out phone holders and USB charging.
Up front there’s a big Google-powered touchscreen, another digital screen in front of the driver and loads more cubbies to store family paraphernalia.
The Scenic isn’t the fastest EV you’ll drive – nor should it be – but it’s comfortable for the most part. Our car came on odd-looking 20-inch wheels, which made the ride a bit bumpy at times.
Best EV coming soon
Renault 5 E-Tech
Price TBA
Claimed range up to 248 miles
Battery size 40-52kWh
There’s a bit of a fad for retro-themed cars right now, with Ford bringing back the Capri, Vauxhall reviving the Frontera, and the return of the Renault 5. At least the latter bears a passing resemblance to its famous forebear – it’s still a small car, not another SUV.
You’ll be able customise the 5 with graphics and different roof treatments – which will all up the cost, I’m sure. Don’t expect anyone to pay the rumoured starting price of around £25,000.
The inside will be just as much fun, but less retro. The emphasis here will be on tech with two 10-inch screens and infotainment getting voice control courtesy of Renault’s tie-up with Google. There’s even a revival of the Renault 4 on the horizon, too.
• Steve Fowler has been reviewing cars and writing about the car industry for more than 30 years. He’s edited three of the UK’s biggest car titles: Auto Express, What Car? and Autocar; presented documentaries on cars for Radio 4; is a regular contributor on TV and radio; and is a World Car of the Year award juror.
• This article was amended on 12 September 2024 to include the smaller battery sizes of the early models of used BMW i3 cars.
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