What Car? Reader Award: Vote for the most exciting new electric car
From SUVs to small cars, our Reader Award is your chance to name a What Car? Electric Car Award winner – but hurry, because voting will close soon...
What's the most exciting new electric car coming soon? It's a question you can answer as part of our What Car? Electric Car Awards Reader Award, which is now open for voting.
We've pulled together a shortlist of 12 of the most exciting new electric models which are due to arrive in the UK within the next year. Among them are electric estate cars, small cars, and SUVs.
You can have your say by voting on our dedicated polls across Instagram and X, where our shortlisted cars will compete in heats before going through to a grand final – you'll need to be quick, though, because voting will close soon.
Last year's winner of the Reader Award was the Renault 5 small electric car, having beaten other condenders including the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and Polestar 3 to take the overall title.
Cars in this list are presented alphabetically.
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What Car? Electric Car Awards Reader Award 2024 contenders
Audi A6 Avant e-tron
Audi's rival to the BMW i5 Touring will be available with various battery and motor combinations, but in range-topping versions, a 100kWh battery should offer an official range of around 435 miles – as well as the ability to charge at speeds of up to 270kW, meaning a 10-80% top-up could take around 20 minutes if you use the fastest chargers. The most popular '55' version is expected to have 396bhp, while the most expensive RS6 Avant e-tron should come with more than 600bhp.
Expect to fit your family's holiday luggage into the A6 Avant e-tron's boot without any problems, while Audi's tech-heavy interior will likely give buyers three screens to play with – this setup having been seen in the recently revealed Audi A5. Prices should start from around £60,000, but if you'd rather have a saloon, the A6 Avant e-tron will be joined by a regular Audi A6 Sportback e-tron before long.
Read our full Audi A6 Avant e-tron preview
Fiat Grande Panda
Fighting it out with rivals including the Citroën e-C3 and Dacia Spring for the title of Britain's cheapest electric car is this reborn Fiat Panda. Strictly speaking, it's the start of new family of Panda models, which will eventually include a coupé SUV and a larger model, but this small SUV is taking the Grande Panda name to kick things off.
Power for the Grande Panda will come from a 111bhp motor, fed by a 43.7kWh (usable capacity) battery which offers an official range of 195 miles – that's more than you'll get from the Spring, while the rival MG ZS EV will take you further still between charges. Inside the Grande Panda, you'll find a large, oval-shaped steering wheel, with a 10in digital instrument cluster behind it, and a 10.25in infotainment touchscreen on the centre console.
No, it might not look like the original Capri, but this new electric SUV is the latest example of a car maker bringing back a name from its past. The best-selling Extended Range RWD version is expected to feature a 77kWh battery, offering a range of up to 389 miles between charges. That's slightly further than the closely related Ford Explorer can manage, and a lot further than the rival Kia EV6 and Volkswagen ID 5 will take you.
Should you want four-wheel drive, then the Extended Range AWD version of the Capri ups power from 282bhp to 335bhp, and thanks to a larger 79kWh battery, the range only drops to an official 369 miles. A starting price of £48,075 makes the Capri around £2000 more expensive than its Explorer sibling, but a cheaper version with a 52kWh battery is due to join the range next year.
Read our full Ford Capri preview
Hyundai Ioniq 7
The Hyundai Ioniq 7 is the firm's largest and most luxurious SUV, and will sit above the existing Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 in the Korean manufacturer's line-up of electric models. Shown here in concept form, the Ioniq 7 is effectively the sister car to the Kia EV9 – a car which we've been very impressed by. Indeed, we named the EV9 as the Best Electric Seven-Seater at our most recent New Car Awards.
Like that car, the Ioniq 7 is expected to be offered with a 95kWh battery, allowing for a range of up to 349 miles between charges. The Ioniq 7 will come with the choice of rear or four-wheel drive, and the possibility of a range-topping N model has already been mooted after Kia confirmed it would produce a more hardcore EV9 GT model.
Revealed earlier this year, the EV3 is Kia's smallest electric SUV to date, and will do battle with rivals including the Hyundai Kona Electric and Smart #1. It starts out with a good pedigree – because the EV3's larger sibling is the Kia EV6, a former What Car? Car of the Year winner. We've already sat inside a pre-production version of the EV3 and were impressed with what we saw, both in terms of the technology and space on offer.
Two versions will be available – a Standard Range model with a 58.3kWh battery offering an official range of 255 miles, and a Long Range version with a larger 81.4kWh battery, and an official range of 384 miles. Prices should start from around £32,500, meaning the EV3 will undercut its Smart #1 rival.
Read our full Kia EV3 preview
Mini Aceman
Think of the Mini Aceman as being an electric SUV which, like Ronnie Corbett's character in a famous The Frost Report sketch, knows its place. That's because it sits very neatly in between the smaller Mini Cooper electric hatchback and the larger Mini Countryman, giving families who want some extra space, but who don't want to go into the larger car, something to consider.
That the Aceman has managed to keep the cutesy looks of its smaller sibling will sell it alone for many, but the fact hunters among you will be interested to know that the Aceman SE model can also take you further on a charge than the rival Jeep Avenger, thanks to its larger 54.2kWh battery. Lesser Aceman E models get a 42.5kWh battery, which offers an official range of 193 miles.
Back in January it was the Renault 5 which won our Reader's Choice Award, having already won this award at last year's Electric Car Awards. Now the larger Renault 4 will look to repeat that feat – and where the Renault 5 is a small, cute electric car with retro styling, the 4 is an altogether different animal.
Previewed by this 4Ever concept car, the Renault 4 will take the form of a small electric SUV, but will be offered with the same power and battery options as its Renault 5 sibling. That means entry-level versions will get a 40kWh (usable capacity) battery and a 121bhp motor, while paying a bit extra will get you a 52kWh battery and a more powerful 148bhp motor.
If you want more performance, then in the same way that Renault's performance brand, Alpine, has turned the Renault 5 into the Alpine A290, expect the 4 to be transformed into Alpine's first electric SUV before long.
Tesla Cybertruck
It might look like something you'd see in a sci-fi film, but the Tesla Cybertruck is a very real electric pick-up truck – and one which comes with an impressive set of headline statistics. There's the 845bhp it's available with in range-topping tri-motor form, for example, or the fact that even entry-level dual-motor versions will still come with 600bhp. If that sounds like too much, a single-motor version is due to join the range next year.
Elsewhere, the Cybertruck's radical bodywork is said to be bulletproof – or, at the very least, able to protect your bodywork from scrapes and snags on a building site – while the truck's range is said to be 340 miles. That last figure is impressive considering that the Cybertruck can carry 1134kg in its covered rear load bay, and can tow a reported 5000kg.
Unveiled in China earlier this year and scheduled to arrive in the UK early next is Toyota's smallest electric SUV to date – the bZ3x. Following in the footsteps of the bZ4x, it's intended to bridge the gap between that car and the much smaller Toyota C-HR small SUV.
Toyota has yet to reveal any technical details, but it's expected to match up closely with the bZ4x on range – in that car, a 71.4kWh battery offers a range of up to 317 miles between charges. More electric cars will quickly follow, since Toyota has said that it wants to expand its bZ range to six models by 2026. Among those will be a smaller model based on last year's BZ small SUV concept – likely taking the bZ2x name – and an electric saloon based on the bZ3, which is already sold in China.
Vauxhall Frontera
Like plenty of other car makers, Vauxhall is bringing back a name from its past in the hope of igniting passion among potential buyers. Like the original Frontera, this new model is an SUV which is hoping to tap into the trend for affordable models which look like they can tackle anything, but unlike the original, it'll be available with electric power.
Expect the electric Frontera to offer up to 250 miles of range – placing it into competition with rials including the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot e-2008, while buyers not yet ready to make the leap to electric power can choose a frugal mild hybrid intead. The mild hybrid is based around a 1.2-litre petrol engine which receives small amounts of electric assistance to help lower your fuel bills. Prices are expected to start from around £25,000.
Volkswagen's range of ID-badged electric cars will continue to grow with the launch of the ID 2 – and as its name suggests, it'll sit below the current ID 3 in the German car maker's line-up. Interestingly, though, it may not be called ID 2 at all, with Volkswagen among the car makers who seem keen to re-used storied nameplates. Given the ID 2 is essentially the same size as today's Polo small car, the name ID Polo may be used instead.
No matter what it's called, we're expecting two battery sizes to be offered – a 38kWh battery will officially offer up to 220 miles of range, while a larger 58kWh version should let you travel up to 280 miles between charges. That latter figure is similar to what the MG4 EV can manage.
If you want to match green credentials with the pep of a hot hatch, then a GTI-badged version of the ID 2 is expected to arrive in 2026, offering around 300bhp from its single electric motor, and a 0-60mph sprint time of around 6.0sec. Those figures would put the ID 2 GTI into competition with the Abarth 500e.
Read our full Volkswagen ID 2 preview
Volvo EX90
Imagine a Volvo XC90 that's fully electric, and you've just understood the reasoning behind this new Volvo EX90. It's intended to keep all of the family friendly practicality – including the ability to carry seven people – which has made the XC90 such a hit with growing tribes, but also offer them a way to slash their running costs by going electric. When sales begin, buyers will be able to choose between two versions – one with 402bhp and the other with 510bhp. Both models will have dual electric motors and four-wheel drive.
Power will be drawn from a huge 107kwh battery, offering a range of up to 379 miles – a figure that's very similar to the Polestar 3 electric SUV. Charging the EX90 shouldn't take long, since it can draw up to 250kW from the fastest charging points, meaning a 10-80% top-up could take as little as 30 minutes. A starting price of £96,255 makes the EX90 an expensive choice, mind.
Read our full Volvo EX90 preview
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