Carsales Staff•9 Sept 2021

REVIEW

Best Electric Car 2021

Name: Best Electric Car 2021
Brand: Tesla

As World EV Day takes place and interest in electric cars ramps up, we put eight of the most affordable EVs to the test to find out which is best

Models Tested

Eight of Australia’s top-selling EVs

Review Type

Comparison

A fundamental change is occurring in the car industry. The electric vehicle is not only here to stay, it’s here to take over – in part, at least – the role of petrol, diesel and even hybrid cars that employ a traditional internal combustion engine (ICE). It’s not so obvious yet in Australia, but the movement is well underway in Europe and some car-makers are already preparing to become EV-only brands as many countries set electrified vehicle targets. This will ramp up over the next decade, greatly expanding the availability of models, but our first EV mega-test symbolises how important battery-powered cars have already become – and will remain so. If you’re ready to buy into this new technology, or simply study the form guide, come with us to find out which is the Best EV in 2021.

It’s World EV Day and the perfect time for carsales’ Best Electric Car 2021 mega-test, for which we’ve taken a short-listed field of the most affordable electric cars currently on offer in Australia and put them through a rigorous testing regime to find a winner.

As usual, we’ve tested each of our contenders against more than 100 criteria – including EV-specific factors such as energy consumption, driving range and recharging times – across five key areas of assessment: safety, technology, comfort and convenience, driving performance and, not least of all, ownership costs.

If you’re ready to purchase an EV, or just studying the market, look no further than this form guide. And if you’re still sceptical about the EV phenomenon, let us simply point to the rising tide.

Even with restricted vehicle supplies due to the global shortage of semi-conductors and other issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 10,000 electric vehicles were sold in Australia for the seven months to the end of July 2021, most from the market-leading EV brand Tesla.

That’s a drop in the ocean compared to combustion-engined cars, representing only 1.5 per cent of total industry sales this year, but it’s roughly a 200 per cent increase on the same period last year and puts the industry within sight of 20,000 total EV sales for 2021.

That’s up from zero just over a decade ago, and will continue to grow exponentially in the years ahead as an array of new models reaches the market, public charging infrastructure expands, affordability improves and buyer acceptance becomes more widespread.

The limited number of accessible (sub-$100,000) electric cars on sale in Australia today forced us to draw from various passenger car and SUV segments to find the Best Electric Car for 2021.

Hence we’re judging the most affordable and popular electric cars on the market, not luxury EVs, so we’ve limited our contenders to those with a manufacturer’s list price of no more than $70,000.

This aligns with the EV purchase rebate or sales tax concession thresholds already in place in many Australian states and territories. It is also about the point at which the federal government defines a luxury car for the purposes of luxury car tax ($69,152), although the FY2021/22 LCT threshold will increase to $79,659 for fuel-efficient cars such as EVs.

Our entry requirements have kept out some models that cost just over $70,000, such as the BMW i3, Mercedes-Benz EQA and Volvo XC40 Recharge.

The models on test here are all full-electric cars, not plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) that use a small combustion engine to assist with either propulsion or battery replenishment. Regular hybrid cars such as those popularised by Toyota, are also not in the mix.

Of the four SUVs, three hatchbacks and one sedan tested here, just two models – the Nissan LEAF e+ and the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus – were designed from the ground up as battery-electric cars. The rest of the candidates here are also offered with hybrid and/or ICE powertrains.

None of these EVs have been on the market for very long, although shared ancestry makes some of them older than you’d think. For example, the electric MINI Cooper SE launched in mid-2020 is based on the same platform as the petrol MINI that first arrived in 2014.

The Hyundai IONIQ Electric Premium arrived in December 2018 and less than a year later was upgraded with a higher-output battery as the headline improvement.

The Nissan LEAF arrived in 2019 but an update this year brought the LEAF e+ model with extra battery capacity.

The Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus also arrived with much fanfare in 2019, and was updated late last year with new battery chemistry and extra standard features, as well as a shift in sourcing from the United States to China.

The only representative from a prestige brand on test, the entry-level Tesla Model 3 also recently had its price lowered to less than $60,000, marking a reduction of $13K in the space of just 12 months.

The Hyundai Kona Electric, now with an ‘Extended Range’ tag to its moniker with the recent arrival of less powerful ‘Standard Range’ variants, has also been around since 2019 but has received a major facelift and revisions with the latest model realignment.

While the MG ZS EV arrived in late 2020, the Kia Niro EV Sport and Mazda MX-30 Electric Astina are the newest arrivals here, each on the market for only a few months.

How have we determined which is best? Here’s an overview of our five key areas of assessment.

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Safety

Electric cars tend to bring with them a high degree of technology and buyers too expect advanced driver assist safety systems to be part of the package.

These are features that only a few years back weren’t even a consideration for car buyers, but have fast become standard – or at least expected – in every new vehicle.

Given EVs are currently a premium proposition compared to combustion-engined models, buyers will also naturally anticipate a high level of specification.

That said, despite some EVs offering many innovative safety features, others are incredibly basic.

More on EV safety here

best ev mazda mx30 e35 astina electric 08

Technology

An EV must be at the cutting edge of in-vehicle technology, meeting the needs and expectations of buyers to make every journey as convenient as possible.

Quick-to-understand and easy-to-use infotainment and multimedia systems are a priority in any segment, but especially so among EVs.

Most models on test here are the showcase grade of each model line, and in some cases also the EV showcase model of the entire brand.

They represent the best technology available from each car-maker, yet not all EVs are equipped with tech levels as high as you might expect.

More on EV technology here

Comfort and convenience

Electric cars are still some distance from reaching price parity with ICE vehicles, but even so you’d expect any EV costing up to around $70,000 to be loaded with gear.

Most of the models on test here include a sunroof as standard, but neither this nor many other items you might expect such as powered front seats are a given.

As fresh models arrive, so do clever new features that can’t be quickly added to existing competitors. There are many more differences in equipment levels among these EVs than you might expect.

More on EV comfort and convenience here

Driving performance

If you think all electric cars are boring to drive, think again.

Yes, batteries add weight, which is the enemy of performance, and some EVs favour big-battery endurance over handling dynamics at the expense of driving range.

But with relatively high levels of torque delivered instantly, all EVs are inherently equipped with the potential to provide more exhilaration behind the wheel than their equivalent combustion-powered counterparts.

Just like them, some EVs focus more on basic necessities such as ride comfort and efficiency, while others aim to deliver a driving experience that’s as rewarding, dynamic and responsive as a comparable petrol or diesel vehicle.

And just like conventional cars, few EVs tick all the boxes – at this stage it’s simply not possible to deliver both supercar handling and the driving range of a small diesel passenger car in the one EV.

But some EVs strike a better balance between driving range and driving enjoyment – and a better compromise between ride and handling – than others, and you might be surprised at our ranking in this department following thorough real-world testing of all eight contenders.

Ownership costs

With no oil, spark plugs, air filters or fuel filters to replace – or fuel to replenish – running an electric car should be far cheaper than a traditional ICE vehicle.

But there is more maintenance – and cost – involved with running an EV than you might have expected. Some are also much more expensive than others.

In return, car-makers generally go to extra lengths with aftersales provisions in a bid to provide the peace of mind that’s so important for buyers when purchasing an EV for the first time.

They mostly offer extensive factory warranties, and importantly for an EV with its expensive battery pack, longer battery warranties. All have free roadside assistance thrown in too, but the aftersales sweetener runs out much earlier for some.

Tyre replacement costs are much easier to calculate these days, which is important when a new set of tyres will cost more than many services. And in the case of EVs, they’re sometimes specified with low rolling resistance tyres that can be more expensive to replace.

Depreciation costs are also more transparent than before, so you can calculate with some confidence what your EV will likely be worth when the lease is up or you want to cash in. This will become an important consideration for some electric vehicles.

As we discovered though, ownership costs vary greatly in the electric car market.

How much an EV costs to service, how much it depreciates and what warranty provisions it’s backed by can vary markedly across brands and their electric models.