Electric vehicles (EVs) have emerged as the fastest-selling fuel type in the used car market, surpassing petrol and diesel cars. According to Auto Trader, EVs took an average of just 27 and 25 days to sell in the previous month and the current month, respectively. In comparison, petrol and diesel cars are selling every 31 days on average in October.
The rise in the popularity of EVs is evident in the list of fastest-selling used cars, with seven out of the top 10 being electric or alternatively fuelled vehicles. This includes models such as the Kia Niro, Vauxhall Corsa-e, Renault Megane E-Tech, Audi e-tron, and Renault Zoe. These cars have been highly sought after, taking between 9 and 15 days to sell.
Vauxhall Grandland X Hybrid4 (Image: Vauxhall.co.uk)
One of the contributing factors to the growing demand for used electric cars is the improved affordability and availability. Auto Trader reported that nearly a quarter (22%) of used electric stock on their platform in September was priced between £10,000 and £20,000, providing greater choice in the more affordable end of the market. This increase in options has attracted more consumers to consider purchasing used EVs.
However, the second-hand electric car market is still in its early stages, and as a result, some volatility can be expected as it continues to mature in the coming years. Despite this, retailers have a significant opportunity to future-proof their businesses and gain profits by embracing the data and trends surrounding used electric cars.
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With the age of electrification upon us, can we agree on one thing? Cars we covet are about more than the roar of a perfectly balanced straight-six cylinder engine, the rasp of an exhaust and the rise and fall of a rev counter with every gearshift.
Interesting, desirable cars that will have enduring appeal to a car enthusiast also encompass innovative engineering, thought-provoking design, an interior that makes you and your family feel good about life and technology that meets your requirements.
It’s sometimes said that the acid test of a good car, one that stirs all the right emotions as well as cold, hard logic, is when you find yourself instinctively looking back at it as you walk away. As the switch to electric models gathers, er, steam, we pick the best electric cars on sale.
Hopefully, for those petrolheads poised to take the plunge and start researching which is the best electric car, this selection will plug you into something that keeps you, well, enthusiastic about cars.
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Previous designs of EV would struggle for range and power, rendering them weak competition against the dominant combustion engine technology of petrol- and diesel-powered cars. However, the breakneck pace of technological innovation has solved the viability issues that plagued the EV as a concept – and made electric cars a popular choice for leasing with consumers.
Indeed, there are many models of EV that outperform their petrol-powered competitors, especially when it comes to acceleration. There are at least three models of EV currently commercially available that can achieve 0-60mph in under three seconds – and all of them are four-door coupes. What are they, and how has this come to be?
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Good cabin space, plenty of on-board tech, a well-resolved drive and decent real-world range, but still short on the desirability needed to justify its price.
What is it?
This is the mid-level longest-range version of the new Audi Q4 E-tron, which itself could be thought of as Audi’s first mass-market electric car. Coming after the bigger, pricier and more luxurious E-tron SUV and the Porsche Taycan-related E-tron GT pseudo sports car, this is the model that, Audi will hope, will begin to give the vast majority of its customers an affordable – but also still a desirable, usable and versatile – route into EV ownership.
In smaller-batteried 168bhp form, the Q4 E-tron can be had from just a whisker over £40,000. The version we’re testing is slightly more expensive, but it combines a 201bhp rear-mounted electric motor with a drive battery of a usable 77kWh of capacity, and advertises some 316 miles of WLTP-lab-test-verified range. That’s a figure competitive with the longer-range version of the Polestar 2, albeit not quite equal to the very longest-range versions of the Tesla Model 3 and Ford Mustang Mach-E (both of which can currently be had for a little more outlay than our Q4 test car). For a sub-£45,000 EV, however, it’s decent battery range for the money, while 125kW fast-charging ability as standard on bigger-batteried cars makes long-range usability all the easier to contemplate.
The Q4 E-tron becomes Audi’s electric sibling for the Volkswagen ID 4 and Skoda Enyaq, taking the VW’s Group’s MEB specialised electric car platform as its mechanical basis and slotting into the wider Audi showroom range just where you’d expect it to: as a mid-sized crossover SUV sized between the Q3 and Q5. Audi’s key claim for the car is that it has outstanding interior packaging, though: passenger space that makes it feel much more like a full-sized SUV on the inside, despite measuring less than 4.6m in length on the outside, thanks to that space-efficient architecture.
The other notable departure here is to do with mechanical layout. While the range-topping E-tron 50 version of the Q4 will have two drive motors and independently controlled quattro four-wheel drive, the lower E-tron 35 and mid-range E-tron 40 become the first Audi mainstream production models in modern history with rear-wheel drive (not counting the rear-driven versions of the R8 supercar).
Q4 e-tron (Image: audi.co.uk)
What’s it like?
Audi clearly isn’t afraid of the potential of electric drive to rewrite the rulebook on how its cars are laid out, then – or even how they look. Making EVs will mean embracing change for every ‘legacy brand’, after all – and Audi has the advantage of being part of a manufacturing group in which the cost and risk of making the switch can be shared around. Sounds very sensible.
Even so, the Q4 is quite a strange-looking car. When you stand back and take it in, you’ll quickly see that it looks much less like either a Q3 or Q5 from some angles than some slightly angry, high-rised, 150%-scale modern take on the original A2 hatchback. The car’s bonnet and front overhang are very short, its cabin and wheelbase are both very long in proportion to its overall length, and its waistline is high, with an awful lot of metalwork on show below it.
Luxury car design convention has held for decades that the length of a car’s bonnet, and the distance presented between the front wheel arch and the base of the windscreen – ‘the premium gap’, as it has become known – are key in defining the visual appeal of a car you might be inclined to pay a premium for. Well, the Q4 E-tron hasn’t got one; couldn’t really have less of one, actually.
It has, instead, a slightly stunted, snub-nosed look in profile, those busy body surfaces and two-tone arches and sills all clear attempts to disguise the sort of proportions that would otherwise look awkward and bulky. It might have been fair enough, of course, if the Q4 had come along earlier, for Audi to have simply declared that “electric cars are different” and that it isn’t fair to judge them for aesthetic appeal as you might an equivalent combustion-engined car. Ten years ago, or even five, we might have swallowed that.
But today – when EVs like the Jaguar I-Pace, Honda E, Polestar 2 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 have all showed us differently? Surely, it’s for Audi to justify its standing as a design brand, and its premium positioning, with a better-looking electric car? In my view, they’ve missed the target by a distance here.
The view from the inside of the Q4 outwards isn’t much more familiar. You sit at a midway compromise of normal- and SUV-typical eyelines, but your view of the front of the car and the wider world outside is hampered by steeply raked A-pillars, a steeply raked windscreen, and by that short bonnet that slopes away from you as it advances, whose forward extremity is therefore quite hard to judge. The car’s windscreen angle is like that in order to provide good aerodynamics for the Q4, no doubt; also to provide room to accommodate the projector for the car’s augmented-reality head-up display, which Audi touts as a major technical selling point, ahead of the driver.
There is, however, certainly plenty of room inside the Q4. Both head room and leg room in the front row are very generous for a car of this size, likewise occupant space in the back. You won’t find the potential to slide or to individually fold the back seats down, but taller adults could nonetheless still travel very comfortably. Storage space is equally good, the car’s angular door console design including angled bottle holders at a higher level, as well as decent-sized pockets further below.
The Q4’s dashboard is of a bold, angular, geometric design, which extends even to include a slightly off-circular steering wheel with flattened-off top and bottom sections. There’s a three-tier centre stack, with the infotainment system on its top level, the gear selector and drive mode controller on the second level, and extra storage on the lowest one.
It looks imaginative and attractive enough, but the Q4’s interior doesn’t impress so much on a tactile level, or with the attention to detail that Audi usually lavishes on perceived quality. Our test car had trim materials lacking in a bit of variety, relying a lot on glossy black panels, which are vulnerable to smudgy finger marks. It also featured quite a lot of hard, dull, plain-feeling moulded plastics, many of which – around the steering wheel, centre console and door consoles in particular – had been left with sharper raised edges and fitted together a little imprecisely. The door pockets, which would typically have a felt or rubber lining in an Audi, had been left hard and slippery, for their contents to slide around noisily within as you drive. Those bottle holders, meanwhile, don’t have the sprung retaining supports that you’ll find in the in-board cupholders, and so their contents can rattle and roll around similarly. Is this Audi cabin quality? It’s debatable.
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A couple of weeks ago, Mercedes-Benz quietly announced the price for its all-electric EQC sports-utility vehicle.
A $67,900 starting price for a luxurious, 200-mile, 402-horsepower luxury crossover is a good start for the EQC brand. But the announcement got completely lost in the shuffle in a week filled with buzz about Tesla’s bulletproof, stainless-steel Cybertruck. Even the deserved attention given to Ford’s Mustang-inspired electric SUV was cut short. So where does that leave the play-it-safe luxury electric SUVs from Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW?
Mercedes-Benz EQC (Image: Mercedes-Benz)
As we reported a week ago, the $75,000 Audi e-tron has not been a big hit. Don’t get me wrong. Audi loyalists and traditional luxury car buyers appreciate the e-tron’s smooth, comfortable, and safe ride. But relatively low sales numbers suggest that the e-tron is not energy-efficient enough. And it doesn’t have enough range at 204 miles. Or it’s being produced in low numbers. Or there aren’t other stand-out attributes besides being a well-made automobile. Who knows?
Audi e-tron (Image: Audi)
But whatever the reason, the first of four all-electric e-tron variants did not stir a big response. Not when it’s facing competition for mindshare from the Cybertruck or an electric Mustang.
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Improved aerodynamics and rear-wheel drive bring extended 278-mile range for Audi’s second EV
Audi has revealed its second bespoke electric vehicle, the E-tron Sportback, which already has a raft of technical improvements over its E-tron sibling launched last year.
Revealed at the Los Angeles motor show, the coupe is the same weight, length and height as the E-tron and from the B-Pillar forward is identical. The lower part of the rear door, bumper and rear lights are also the same, while the obvious difference – the rear roof line – was cut from the A7.
Audi e-tron Sportback (Image: Audi.com)
That roofline makes the car slightly more aerodynamic than the E-tron, with a 0.25 Cd compared with the E-tron’s 0.27, giving the Sportback an extra 6.2 miles of range.
Changes from the E-tron include decoupling the front and rear axles so the model can be rear-wheel drive, which adds another 6.2 miles of range. Brake pads have been optimised with stronger springs so there’s no friction when not required, creating an extra 1.9 miles of range. Audi has also swapped two water pumps for battery cooling to one larger one, saving weight and cost and using less energy, which adds up to 1.2 miles of range. The useability of power from the battery has increased by 88% to 91% stage of charge, creating more than 6.2 miles of range.
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EV range is a hot topic right now so we’ve listed the new electric cars with the longest range you can buy now…
The first question most people have when a new electric car comes out is how much range it has. ‘Range anxiety’ is a phrase often thrown around to describe the fear EV owners could face when driving their electric car with a level of remaining battery charge that may not get them to their destination. As a result, there’s a certain kudos attached to the electric cars with the longest range as well as a valuable competitive advantage manifested as electric car buyers are attracted to them. If you’re wondering which electric car has the longest range, you can find out below.
Manufacturers have quickly realised the importance of range to existing petrol or diesel car owners and now some electric cars can travel just as far on a single charge as an internal combustion engined (ICE) equivalent can manage on a full tank – all the while producing zero emissions at a cheaper running cost to the owner. The fact that most drivers will very rarely travel the kind of distances in a single day that would deplete a modern electric car’s battery is seen as less important than the need to reassure motorists considering the switch to the new technology.
There’s no doubt that the UK’s charging infrastructure still remains a stumbling block for electric cars and their owners. Charging points are increasing in number across the country and charging times are dropping but the chargers that there are are still often in use compounding the fact that recharging an EV is still noticeably slower than filling up a petrol or diesel vehicle.
With increasing investment from the Government and charging infrastructure providers to improve EV charging options coupled with the appeal of emission-free motoring and cheaper running costs than ICE vehicles, electric cars are more appealing than ever. Manufacturers too are in a race to develop enhanced batteries and electric car technology that will increase the range available in electric cars to the point that range anxiety will become a thing of the past.
Audi’s smaller battery pack and lower power e-tron 50 quattro should offer more fleet appeal for the company’s first pure-electric car.
Audi’s new lower-range e-tron 50 quattro sports a 71kWh battery pack and a 186-mile WLTP range, reducing the pack size by 24kWh – the same as the original Nissan Leaf – compared to its big brother e-tron 55 quattro, which offers a 95kWh battery and 241-mile WLTP range potential. The lower weight of the e-tron 50’s battery and by using the front motor only when absolutely necessary, Audi claims the car to be more efficient
Audi e-tron (Image: Audi)
Consequently, the new smaller battery cannot take the same maximum charge rate as its larger sibling, and drops to 120kW from 150kW. Despite the degradation in charge rate, because the battery is smaller, Audi says it will take approximately the same 30 minutes to charge from 0-80% as the more powerful variant at compatible rapid charge stations. An optional connect charging system, available later this year, adds smart charging functions such as off-peak charging, enabling customers to benefit from variable electricity rates by charging their Audi e-tron at more inexpensive times.
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The new e-tron 50 quattro is designed to open the e-tron model to a wider audience and it has been confirmed for series production and will launch in the UK in 2020.
The government has announced that it is reducing the amount of company car tax that buyers of electric vehicles will be charged in a bid to accelerate the switch to zero-emission vehicles.
For 2020, buyers of all-electric vehicles will be charged zero per cent benefit in kind, with this increasing to one per cent in 2021 and two per cent in 2022.
That means there are potentially massive tax benefits to be had for company car drivers who make the switch – but which EVs are best to take advantage of these savings? We’ve outlined some of our favourites.
Audi e-tron
If you’re looking for a company car, premium appeal, lots of space and a long range are important – and that’s where the e-tron comes in.
Audi e-tron (Image: Audi)
Audi’s first vehicle built to be an EV from the ground up has won plaudits for being a great-to-drive electric SUV that doesn’t require compromises to own. With a range of 237 miles and the ability to charge at 150kW, range anxiety should be a thing of the past.
