The best and cheapest EVs you can buy in Australia
Australia’s top value electric vehicles for every budget? Our motoring expert has done the hard yards for you.
More than a third of Australians plan to buy an electric car as their next vehicle but which are the best value? We’ve picked a winner in every category.
Best Small Hatch EV
Winner: Hyundai Inster – $39,000
There is an argument that says a small, city-only hatch such as the Hyundai Inster is the perfect application for an EV, considering the current level of range the technology offers. But there is an equally powerful counter-argument that paying nearly $40,000 for a second car you’ll only ever use in town is a bit rich.
If you can afford it, however, the Inster is a fabulously fun and ahhh-mazingly cute car that’s also surprisingly spacious for a vehicle that has only four seats, and a range of just 327km. The Inster is also an example of what make EVs entertaining, however, with its tiddling 71kW output somehow providing zippy and zesty performance, at least at city speeds.
See also:
GWM Ora – $32,990, Mini Cooper E – $53,990
Read the full Hyundai Inster road test review here.
Best Family Hatch EV
Winner: Hyundai Ioniq 5 – $69,800
Yes, it does look like it was designed by someone who spends too much time staring at modern art, and the side profile has more creases than Peter Capaldi’s face, but if you want strangers to know that you’ve gone fully futuristic and bought something that’s so obviously an EV it doesn’t even have a grille at the front, then the Ioniq 5 is a winner.
The interior is similarly adventurous yet undeniably cool, and offers a lounge-like airiness, as well as zero gravity seats that allow you to nap while you’re charging, in theory. It also offers vehicle-to-load capacity, meaning there’s a standard three-pin plug that you can use to charge your laptop or coffee machine on the go. More importantly, it’s quite lovely, and a tiny bit exciting, to drive, and it promises 440km for the entry-level model, or you can pay $75,800 for an Extended Range variant with 570km.
See also:
Mini Aceman E – $55,990, Kia EV6 – $72,590
Read the full Hyundai Ioniq 5 road test review here.
Best Sedan EV under $91,387
Winner: BMW i4 eDrive35 Gran Coupe – $85,900
Finding out that a beloved brand such as BMW (beloved if you’re a hoon/driving enthusiast, that is) is racing towards an electric future is a bit like hearing that your favourite band has decided to stop writing new music. It’s hard to argue the company is heading in the right direction when almost one in three BMWs sold in Australia in February was an EV, with that figure trending upwards rapidly as buyers with money fled the flailings of Elon Musk and Tesla.
The secret has been building BMWs that still feel like driver’s cars, even if they don’t sound like them any more (this car does make stupid sci-fi whining sounds, but fortunately you can turn them off), and the i4 is without doubt the best example of the breed.
It delivers the kind of superb steering, driver feedback and ride quality you expect from BMW, all while offering a useful 430km of range. This base model is fantastic value, and its 210kW, rear-drive setup will be more than enough fun for most people, but there are other, sportier variants available if you’d like to pay more Germanic money.
See also:
Tesla Model 3 – $54,900, MG Motor IM5 – $60,990
Read the full BMW i4 road test review here.
Best small SUV EV under $91,387
Winner: Kia EV3 – $47,600
While some large car companies – I’m looking at you, Mazda and Toyota – have shied from the EV revolution, the Korean ones have embraced it wholeheartedly.
In the case of Kia, its range of electric vehicles have managed to lift perceptions, and price tags, for the brand.
If you want an electric SUV of any size, you won’t go far wrong by choosing Kia’s EV3, EV5 or EV9, all of which feel premium inside, look great on the outside and provide a driving experience that’s surprisingly good, and well ahead of Chinese competitors.
The big advantage of the EV3 being that you can have one for less than $50,000, which, in EV terms, is cheap, and still gets you 158kW of power and 463km of range (there’s a pricier model that claims 604km, too).
See also:
Hyundai Kona Electric – $54,000, Smart #1 – $54,900
Read the full Kia’s EV3 road test review here.
Best mid-size SUV EV under $91,387
Winner: Tesla Model Y – $55,900
If imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery, then Musk must have an ego the size of Mars, because so many modern EVs work so hard to copy absolutely every design element that his personal brand, Tesla, invented, from forcing us to use giant touch screens for every damn thing to retractable door handles that double as nail clippers.
The fact remains, however, that Tesla is not only the original but in many cases still the best, which helps to explain why the Model Y remains the best-selling EV in Australia, shifting almost double the vehicles of its nearest competitor, the BYD Sealion 7.
There is some argument over whether the interior is actually a premium form of minimalism or just overly plain, but other than that it’s hard to fault it as a family hauling SUV, with 255kW of power and 466km of range and a quality drive experience that leaves most Chinese competitors for dead.
See also:
Zeekr 7X – $57,900, Kia EV5 – $56,770, Polestar 4 – $88,350
Read the full Model Y road test review here.
Best large SUV EV
Winner: Kia EV9 – $98,683
Theoretically, it is impossible to make a seven-seat SUV look cool, let alone attractive, and yet the Kia EV9 somehow achieves this feat, resembling, as it does, an edgy, futuristic van that would look at home on the set of Blade Runner.
It would also give low-flying space ships a run for their money, because it is seriously, almost stupidly quick for something this big and if your idea of fun is hearing six passengers squeal as you hit 100km/h in a surging six seconds, this is the family SUV.
Nothing this big should be enjoyable to drive. Indeed if you’ve had more than two children it generally feels like car makers will punish you for the excess, and yet the EV9 is truly fun to steer while also feeling properly premium and plush.
See also:
Polestar 3 (a truly excellent alternative, but not properly “large”) – $118,420, Volvo EX90 – $124,990
Read the full Kia EV9 road test review here.
Best Sports Car EV under $91,387
Winner: Tesla Model 3 Performance – $80,900
Yes, it’s another Tesla, but this one could just be the greatest performance bargain of all time, at least in terms of sheer, shocking shove, because even at twice the price it would feel like a reasonable deal for so much mumbo.
Indeed, calling it the Performance Model 3 is underselling it (rumour has it they nearly called it the “Ludicrous” with its twin motors making a muscular 373kW and 740Nm, enough to throw you from zero to 100km/h in 3.1 seconds, an experience that physically hurts.
The fact is, this Tesla is almost too fast for its own good, but once you get used to its organ-squashing acceleration, it is actually a stunningly good thing to drive. You just might need a race track to properly enjoy it.
See also:
MG4 XPower – $59,990
Read the full Tesla Model 3 road test review here.
Best Sports Car EV – at any price
Winner: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N – $111,000
Yes, it does seem a touch crazy to give this win to a Hyundai over a Porsche, but the fact is that if you seriously love driving, the Ioniq 5 N might just be the only EV on the market that could tempt you away from a traditional combustion car.
It’s fast, obviously – with a super-car-sized 478kW power output pushing it to 100km/h in 3.4 seconds and a bat-shit crazy Boost Mode – but not as fast as the Taycan Turbo GT (2.2 seconds to 100km/h, which is just silly).
But it is more fun than just about every other EV put together, because it has a button you can press that allows you to pretend you’re changing gears (EVs generally don’t have any, which is why they accelerate so seamlessly), and another that will make it sound like there’s an engine under the bonnet. Yes, it is a bit like playing Guitar Hero rather than actually playing guitar, but goodness it’s a hoot, and, compared to the competitors, a bit of a bargain.
See also:
Audi RS E Tron GT – $264,900, Porsche Taycan Turbo GT – $419,100
Read the full Hyundai Ioniq 5 road test review here.
Best Ute EV
Winner: Deepal E07 Multitruck – $64,900
Unfortunately, despite the Australian car market being utterly dominated by utes these days, there’s not a single fully electric option we could recommend… yet.
The closest you can get is a very interesting option from yet another new Chinese brand, Deepal; the E07 “Multitruck”, which is best described as an SUV that wants to be a ute.
Classy and hugely Tesla-like inside, this truly innovative Deepal’s party trick is that the rear end has a power-retractable section that can expose a load bay and provide ute-like utility. Your fully electric almost-ute comes with 252kW of power, 365Nm of torque and claimed range of 550km.
Read the full Deepal E07 “Multitruck” road test review here.
See also:
BYD Shark 6 – $57,900
Already proving hugely popular locally, the BYD Shark is a proper ute but only a kind-of EV, because it’s a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle, or PHEV, which means you can charge up its relatively small battery and drive it for up to 100km in silent, EV-only mode, but when that runs out a small petrol engine kicks in to provide a total theoretical range of 800km.
It genuinely is surprisingly good, particularly at the price.
Read the full BYD Shark road test review here.
Best People Mover EV
Winnner: Zeekr 009 – $135,990
If you’re after a fully electric people mover, perhaps so you can fully enjoy the squealing of your kids’ soccer team on the way to and from training, you’re currently going to have to go for a high-end and truly luxurious family hauler, in the unfortunate shape of the Zeekr 009.
It might look like it has a rugby league player’s propensity for running into things head first, but it is almost implausibly popular in China, where they love people movers, and it turns out to be surprisingly wonderful to drive, and hugely comfortable.
Frankly, putting small children in the back of something this pleasant is like feeding your dog caviar, but at this end of the market, and at this point, the Zeekr is your only choice (at least until the XPeng X9 arrives later this year).
Read the full Zeekr 009 road test review here.
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