Cheapest Electric Car in the UK
A lot of people are searching for ‘cheapest electric car UK’ at the moment. We can help with that, though it can be difficult to say what’s the cheapest electric car in the UK because it depends on what you mean by ‘cheapest’. Let’s dig a bit deeper.
The most popular electric cars, are as follows:
Cheapest Electric Car UK: Monthly Cost
Of these the cheapest on a monthly basis are consistently the Nissan Leaf and the Renault ZOE. Typical starting prices are as follows (June 2017):
- Nissan Leaf: £999 deposit plus £227 per month for 3 years. That’s a monthly equivalent cost of £255 (if we consider the deposit). That includes 10,000 miles of free charging.
- Renault ZOE: £999 deposit plus £281 per month for 3 years. That’s a monthly equivalent cost of £309. Again it includes 10,000 miles of free charging.
Those are great prices considering they include fuel (charging) plus with an electric car road tax is free, congestion charging is free, parking is often free, and servicing is cheap.
Clearly, though, this provides an answer to the original question. The Cheapest Electric Car UK (on monthly cost) is the Nissan Leaf.
Cheapest Electric Car UK: Cost Per Mile of Range
However, that’s not the end of the story. Electric cars are better than conventional cars in virtually every respect (performance, noise, smoothness, pollution, etc.). They do, however, typically have shorter ranges. Therefore it is usual to pay a premium for longer range electric cars (the Tesla being a well-known example, though it’s out of the reach of most people).
Let’s consider the question of range then. We’ll use the official NEDC (New European Driving Cycle) ranges, though we’d be the first to say these should be taken with a pinch of salt. In the real world you’ll only get about 75% of the NEDC range. However, they do give us a consistent metric for comparison purposes.
The NEDC ranges are as follows:
- Nissan Leaf (30kWh battery): 155 miles
- Renault ZOE (44kWh battery): 250 miles
If we take these into account we can work out the monthly cost per mile of range:
- Nissan Leaf (30kWh battery): 155 miles for £255 = £1.65 per month per mile of range
- Renault ZOE (44kWh battery): 250 miles for £309 = £1.24 per month mile of range
And so we have a new answer to the original question. The Cheapest Electric Car UK (cost per mile of range) is the Renault ZOE. And it’s that unprecedented range in a small, affordable and stylish electric car that explains why it’s so popular. See our Renault ZOE prices here.
To see how much an electric car could save you, use our total cost of ownership calculator.
To find out which electric car would suit you best, just ask.
