Electric Vehicle Range

✔ Electric vehicles can typically travel 198 miles on one charge

✔ The Tesla Model S has the longest range, at 379 miles

✔ Home chargers can be twice as cheap as public machines

You want to go electric, gliding noiselessly down motorways without a care or hint of unnecessary carbon emission in your world.

It’s great for the Earth, cheap to charge, and finally viable – as long as your supply doesn’t run dry.

The stress of constantly trying to avoid that situation could give you range anxiety, but fortunately, there’s no need to worry. Electric vehicles come with robust ranges these days – see for yourself below.

And if you want to go electric, now’s a good time. You can use the government’s Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS) to get £350 off the cost of a home charger. Fill in this form to see how much a home charging point would cost you.

Electric vehicle range comparison

Electric vehicle ranges go from around 60 miles to 379 miles.

That’s a huge difference – but it’s not simply a matter of the bigger, the better. The range you choose should match what you need from your new car.

So before you buy your own electric vehicle, ask yourself: what do you want it for?

Will you use it solely for short urban journeys – trips to the supermarket or a friend’s home, for example – or for holidays and expeditions to see far-flung loved ones? And how much do you want to pay?

If you want a small, relatively cheap vehicle for city life, you may want to stick with the £12,000 Renault Twizy (62-mile range), or Smart’s Fortwo (91-mile range) or Forfour (87-mile range), which both sell for a little over £20,000.

None of these models will be able to take you from London to Bristol on a full battery, but if you don’t need them to go that far, that’s fine.

However, if you’re looking for a vehicle with a larger range, there are plenty of world class machines to choose from.

The list of eligible vehicles that qualify for the government’s plug-in grant – which dealerships and manufacturers use to knock up to £3,000 off a car’s price – contains 30 models which have an average range of 198 miles.

And they are fantastic offerings.

From Tesla to Skoda, Volkswagen to Vauxhall, Hyundai to Jaguar, the top brands have entered the electric market with cars guaranteed to make your spirit soar over record distances.

And thanks to rapid innovation in the industry, we could even start seeing EV-charging roads in the future, which will help cars increase their range.

How will this work? Basically, wireless charging points could be put underground, which will replenish car batteries as they drive over them.

Which electric vehicle has the longest range?

The Tesla Model S has the longest range, clocking in at a stunning 379 miles.

That’s only a smidge more than the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which secures second place with its 370-mile range, but let’s be clear: Tesla dominates.

It’s the only brand that has more than one car on the list, with a stonking four models possessing ranges of 314 miles or more.

The question, as ever, is whether you can (or should) pay for a Tesla.

The current title-holder when it comes to range, the Model S, costs £73,990 – though with Tesla CEO Elon Musk extremely maturely tweeting that he’s cutting the price to $69,420 (£53,450), who knows.

Bear in mind that there are six other brands on this list, including models like the Ford Mustang Mach-E (£40,270) and the Volkswagen ID.3 (£32,300), which won’t hit your wallet quite as hard.

So whether you prefer a mainstream brand like Hyundai, Volvo, or Kia (which has models in 11th and 13th), or a luxury brand like Jaguar, Rimac, or Pininfarina, you’ll be well-served.

And the shortest?

The Renault Twizy gets this dubious honour, with a range of just 62 miles.

If you’re comparing electric cars’ prices, and the Twizy’s £12,000 cost strikes you as being low, remember that it could be even lower.

The Twizy narrowly failed to make the government’s plug-in grant vehicle list, which would have knocked £3,000 off its price, because its range is less than 70 miles.

The car also looks a bit like an ostrich, an animal that can run up to 43 miles an hour – and which could therefore catch up with a Twizy in less than 90 minutes.

But if you want to go electric without breaking the bank, and you just need a car to take you short distances, it’s an extremely cost-effective option – even without the plug-in grant.

And if you just want one place where you can see the ranges of all the best and most popular electric vehicles on the market right now, we’ve got you covered.

At which range should you get a home charger?

At all ranges. If you can afford the initial cost, you should get a home charger for any electric vehicles you buy.

Not only is buying a home charger currently £350 cheaper, thanks to the government’s Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), but it will also save you hundreds in the long run.

The cars on the government’s eligible list will cost £8 to fully charge at home, on average, compared to charging a vehicle in public, which can set you back twice as much.

If you don’t want to pay through the nose, invest in your future with a home charger. It can save you loads of money – plus it’s just way more convenient.

Summary

So there you have it – the full gamut of ranges which electric vehicles can cover, from the cheap and cheerful Twizy to Tesla’s powerhouse.

But remember, range isn’t everything. 

You should also look at the efficiency, which is measured in wh/mi (watt hours per mile), as well as the top speed – and the price tag, of course.

If you’d like to cut your costs by getting up to £350 off a new home charger, fill in this form to see how much you could get one for.