Top Picks For Electric Vehicles: Here Are Eight Making “Best Of” Lists Everywhere

What’s The Best Elec­tric Car Brand? Just about every­one wor­ries about cli­mate change and the envi­ron­ment. Every­one wants to make con­crete con­tri­bu­tions to the move­ment toward a health­i­er planet. That might mean installing a com­poster in your back­yard, or it may mean mak­ing smarter pur­chas­es in every cat­e­go­ry. Buy­ing less meat, shop­ping for local­ly grown veg­eta­bles, and using pub­lic trans­porta­tion to get around are all wise choices. But many of us still need to own vehi­cles, right? If you’ve got a grow­ing fam­i­ly whom you dri­ve to school and sports prac­tices, it may not be prac­ti­cal to go car-free right now. We get it! So what to do if you still need to own a vehi­cle but you wor­ry about the gas it takes to fill the tank? How can you make bet­ter choic­es that help the envi­ron­ment if your lifestyle demands you own a  car to get around? The choice is clear: go electric! Elec­tric vehi­cles are no longer the out­ra­geous­ly expen­sive option that only the well-off seg­ment of the pop­u­la­tion can afford. They are com­ing down in price and going up in qual­i­ty and range, so now you can dri­ve hun­dreds of miles with­out hav­ing to stop to recharge. And speak­ing of charg­ers – they are becom­ing increas­ing­ly com­mon­place, dot­ting high­way rest stops and even some gas sta­tions. And charg­ers for home are com­ing down in price too. Today, you need not wor­ry that dri­ving an elec­tric vehi­cle means hunt­ing fran­ti­cal­ly for some­where to charge it. In this post, we offer a roundup of some of the best elec­tric vehi­cles on the mar­ket right now. Because of sup­ply chain hic­cups caused by the pan­dem­ic and exac­er­bat­ed by the war in Ukraine, the biggest hur­dle to going elec­tric is find­ing one in stock at the deal­er right now. Demand is out­pac­ing sup­ply, but that’s not going to last forever. The time will come soon, we hope, that the exact elec­tric vehi­cle you’ve got your eye on will be in stock at the deal­er. So read on, and choose the car or SUV you think will be per­fect for you and your fam­i­ly. Whether you just need some­thing to dash around town in, or you’ve look­ing for some­thing stur­dier to take on the back roads, we’ve got a pick that’s just right for you. (All fig­ures quot­ed below are in U.S. dollars).

• Tes­la Mod­el 3:

Tes­la has been a lead­ing man­u­fac­tur­er of elec­tric vehi­cles since they were first intro­duced, and the com­pa­ny has a ter­rif­ic rep­u­ta­tion for reli­able, high-qual­i­ty options. Experts say the Mod­el 3, which should be avail­able this year for approx­i­mate­ly $40,000, can be seen as both a lux­u­ry vehi­cle and an afford­able sedan. The Mod­el 3 has every­thing you want in an elec­tric sedan, and at a sol­id, entry-lev­el price. This mod­el was first intro­duced in 2017, and car enthu­si­asts are not antic­i­pat­ing big changes, except, per­haps, an upgrade to its info­tain­ment sys­tem. If this is your first elec­tric vehi­cle, this is an excel­lent place to start looking.

• Chevy Bolt EV:

This mod­el was first intro­duced in 2017, and per­haps the most remark­able change is in the price tag. Chevy has dropped the cost to about $33,000, steep sav­ings for a reli­able hatch­back. The com­pa­ny is hop­ing to woo dri­vers away from Tes­la and Hyunda­iand just might suc­ceed with sav­ings like that. In 2017, this mod­el won EV of the year, so the range and specs haven’t changed much for this hatch­back. “Motor Trend” is an online site of expert review­ers we used for some of our research for this post, and this year they give the Bolt almost 8 out of 10. Obvi­ous­ly, the Bolt is still a sol­id choice for a depend­able EV.

•  Kia Niro EV:

This mod­el is the “green­est” of all Kia vehi­cles. (There are three ver­sions of the Niro hatch­back). It com­petes with the Chevy Bolt and the Nis­san Leaf Plus – it’s com­fort­able and quick. And while dri­vers say the design this year isn’t super inspired, it’s depend­able and has lots of safe­ty fea­tures. Those fea­tures include emer­gency brak­ing, pedes­tri­an detec­tion and auto­mat­ic high beams, to name only a few. It’s roomy and com­fort­able and is list­ed for approx­i­mate­ly $45,000.

•  Ford Mustang Mach—E:

Are you hes­i­tant to give up your sports car in favour of an elec­tric vehi­cle? Ford has got you cov­ered! The Mach‑E runs for any­where from $43,000 to as much as $62,000, and some quib­ble that it’s an SUV in name only, that it just isn’t sporty enough. But “Motor Trend” gives this vehi­cle an 8.9 out of 10, so it’s def­i­nite­ly doing some­thing right! Plus there is tons of room for pas­sen­gers and car­go, and comes equipped with a big info­tain­ment screen to keep the kids busy while you’re dri­ving on a road trip. The Mach‑E is avail­able in all-wheel dri­ve (AWD), and last year it won the indus­try’s “top safe­ty pick” award. Review­ers say the Mach‑E is lots of fun to dri­ve, so take one for a test dri­ve and make up your own mind.

•  Volkswagen ID4:

This is Volk­swa­gen’s first elec­tric vehi­cle offer, and it gets rave reviews from dri­vers and experts alike. Avail­able in AWD and rear-wheel dri­ve (RWD) it’s not a wild­ly glam­orous car, but it goes from zero to 60 in under six sec­onds and has a range of 260 miles. It got lots of room for car­go and kids, though some say the info­tain­ment sys­tem is tricky to mas­ter. Still, at a price of about $40,000, this vehi­cle may be the per­fect choice for you and your family. The ID4 was intro­duced in 2021, and many say it’s a good sign that the Ger­man car mak­er is com­mit­ting to elec­tric vehi­cles. More mod­els are sure­ly on the hori­zon for Volkswagen.

• Hyundai Ioniq 5:

This is Hyundai’s newest elec­tric SUV, and “Motor Trends” gives it an 8.8 out of 10 – a good rat­ing for a styl­ish new design that does­n’t for­get dri­vers and pas­sen­gers need com­fort as well as looks in a vehicle. This Ion­iq 5 includes Hyundai’s newest bat­tery that charges quick­ly, and this vehi­cle is loaded with safe­ty fea­tures. Some of those are blind-spot mon­i­tor­ing; a sur­round-view cam­era sys­tem, and remote park­ing assis­tance, to name only a few. Review­ers say the ultra-mod­ern, spare design may put off some more con­ser­v­a­tive dri­vers, but for oth­ers, the futur­is­tic look will be inspir­ing and fun. The price runs from $39,700 to $54,500.

• Hyundai Kona EV:

Hyundai gets anoth­er spot on our list because the Kona EV is just so depend­able and fair­ly priced, com­ing in just under $39,000. Review­ers and dri­vers say this is a great choice for com­muters and those who dash off on the week­end, for trips to the shore or the cottage. The Kona EV has a great range of about 258 miles between charges, so you can relax and enjoy the dri­ve to the office with­out wor­ry­ing about charg­ing on the way. When you do charge, the Kona bat­tery is quick and gets the job done fast. The Kona offers a smooth and agile dri­ving expe­ri­ence and has plen­ty of safe­ty fea­tures too. Those fea­tures include rear cross-traf­fic alert, lane fol­low­ing, and many oth­ers, too. In fact, the indus­try gave Kona five stars for its atten­tion to safe­ty, and that’s always good to hear, par­tic­u­lar­ly if this is your first elec­tric vehi­cle, right? The Kona shows that you need not invest big bucks into an EV by Tes­la to get your foot in the green vehi­cle market!

• Nissan Leaf:

Nis­san was on the scene with elec­tric vehi­cles more than a decade ago, one of the first automak­ers to com­mit to what they knew was com­ing in terms of con­sumer tastes and demand for more eco-friend­ly vehicles. The Nis­san Leaf offers great val­ue, start­ing at about $27,400 and ris­ing to $37,400, depend­ing on the mod­el you select. How­ev­er, there are a few issues experts say need to be addressed. First, the range of just 149 miles between charges isn’t always con­ve­nient unless you’re only using your EV for quick trips. And sec­ond­ly, while the exte­ri­or design gets good reviews, the inte­ri­or does­n’t get all thumbs up by dri­vers and experts alike. Some say the inte­ri­or is a bit, well, cheap and the seats aren’t as com­fort­able as they should be. Still, those aren’t seri­ous com­plaints if you want an EV for short jour­neys, like going to the office each day and drop­ping the kids off at school. Some­times the price is the most impor­tant fea­ture, and the Nis­san Leaf is a great eco­nom­ic option.

Wrapping Up

Once you decide it’s time to start research­ing and test dri­ving elec­tric vehi­cles, we hope you will con­sid­er the ones on our list. Talk to friends, talk to col­leagues – find out who is dri­ving what, and what they like (and don’t like!) about the EV they chose. From there, it’s time to head out to deal­ers to begin dri­ving some for your­self. That’s the only way you’ll know which EV is right for you and your family. Right now, with the sup­ply chain issues we men­tioned ear­li­er, you may have to be patient. The EV mar­ket is strug­gling to keep up with demand, and we know that can test your patience. How­ev­er, look at it this way: If every­one wants an EV these days, that says great things about how con­science folks are about the envi­ron­ment, right? And the more con­cerned every­one is, the soon­er we can fix what’s ail­ing our plan­et, so it’s health­i­er and more robust for the next generation.