With government grants to assist in their purchase, the prospect of considerably cheaper running costs, increasing range on a full charge and the ever-widening network of recharging points, the attractions of an electric car are proving irresistible for many motorists.
So, let’s take a look at some of the most promising new electric cars for 2017:
- this Ford Fiesta sized car tops the pick of the list chosen by the motoring magazine Auto Express;
- the rear-wheel drive, 168bhp electric motor powers this lightweight car from 0-60 mph in a very respectable 7.2 seconds;
- its standard range of 80 to 125 miles on a fully charged battery may be extended to nearly twice those distances by purchasing a special “range extender” from BMW;
- if your preference is for a more popular, widely seen marque, you might want to choose the electric version of the Ford Focus;
- its specification matches that of the top of the range (petrol or diesel) Focus Titanium and the government grant on the purchase of an electric vehicle helps to ensure that the Ford Focus Electric is not the most expensive of the marque’s current offering;
- another electric car which bears more than a close resemblance to its conventionally-powered stablemate is the VW e-up;
- although not especially cheap, it still costs less than £20,000 (after the Electric Vehicle grant);
- the somewhat limited range of 93 miles on a fully charged battery does not stop this from being what many acclaim as the ideal city car;
- its eye-catching design makes the Soul EV an unmistakeable presence on the roads;
- one-time winner of Autovolt magazine’s best electric vehicle small family car, Kia’s Soul is another car ideally suited as a city runabout;
- if you thought Tesla’s Model S was impressive, you might want to take a closer look at the Model X;
- this is the SUV version of the widely acclaimed vehicle which its makers describe as “the safest, fastest and most capable sport utility vehicle in history”;
- that’s quite a boast and whilst it has a generous range of almost 300 miles, can carry up to seven passengers, and still return impressive performance, all this comes at a high price – from about £70,000 to almost £125,000, and therefore above the maximum value that qualifies for any Electric Vehicle grant from the government;
- not only was it amongst the earliest of electric cars to gain popularity in the UK, the Nissan Leaf is also one of the cheapest – coming in at well under £20,000 and qualifying for the government grant of £5,000 on its new purchase price;
- with a standard range of up to 124 miles and a top speed of up to 89 mph, the Leaf has power enough to make for a nippy commuting and about the city car.
This brief selection by no means covers all of the various models of electric car available in 2017, but it does help to chart the growing appeal and popularity of these environmentally friendly, cheap to run vehicles.
