Best Electric Car of 2022 announced
Pioneering mid-size electric sedan claims our top EV award for the second year in a row
The Tesla Model 3 has retained its title of carsales’ Best Electric Car in 2022, despite an influx of new EVs in the Australian marketplace in the past 12 months.
Announced in conjunction with World EV Day today, carsales Best Electric Car 2022 put 13 of the most affordable EVs to the test to find out which is best.
And after claiming carsales’ Best Electric Car award in 2021, the Tesla Model 3 has done it again in 2022 – no mean feat given the bigger and better field of EVs lining up this year to dethrone the US brand’s pioneering mid-size sedan – including its own all-new sister SUV, the Tesla Model Y.
Indeed, despite being launched in 2019, when it became the first EV to deliver price parity with its combustion-powered competitors, the Tesla Model 3 remains the electric car benchmark that others are still trying to reach.
And plenty are tyring to do so, with an unprecedented number of new EV models arriving Down Under in recent times – and a much bigger number to come – amid a significant spike in EV interest across the carsales network.
Searches for plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles have continued to surge over the past few months. In July, there were just over three million searches for these vehicles – up 147.3 per cent (or 1.8m searches) compared to July 2021.
The top 10 most viewed EV models at carsales in July were:
Page views by model
Tesla Model 3 — 170,097
Nissan LEAF — 41,444
Porsche Taycan — 39,894
Tesla Model S — 39,369
Kia EV6 — 38,471
Tesla Model X — 38,121
Hyundai IONIQ 5 — 24,571
Mercedes-Benz EQC — 23,762
Mercedes-Benz EQA — 23,614
Polestar 2 — 19,508
As with all carsales Best Cars awards, we assessed each contender against more than 100 criteria across five key areas: safety, technology, comfort and convenience, driving performance and ownership costs.
Electric cars offer significant advantages in many of these areas, due to their lower running costs and advanced technologies, but our test regime also took a deep dive into EV-specific factors such as energy density, driving range and recharging times.
Despite being more expensive than it was a year ago, the Tesla Model 3 showed why it remains Australia’s most popular EV by topping our list of 13 contenders priced under $75,000 – across the passenger car and SUV segments – for Best Electric Car 2022.
The Model 3 still represents great value in terms of purchase price, running costs and the overall cost of ownership including resale value, but is also packed with safety features, technology and comfort/convenience equipment.
Importantly, the rear-wheel drive Tesla sedan is also great to drive and offers all occupants a premium EV experience.
Indeed, the Model 3 top-scored in the areas of driving performance and ownerships costs, and placed second only to Model Y in technology and comfort and convenience.
Based on our testing of the entry-level Model 3 RWD, even the cheapest Tesla delivers an engaging driving experience, a long range, low ownership costs and plenty of high-tech equipment, making it a clear winner of carsales’ Best Electric Car 2022.
Best Electric Car 2022 contenders:
BYD Atto 3 Standard Range
Hyundai IONIQ 5 Dynamiq RWD
Hyundai Kona Electric Standard Range Elite
Kia EV6 Air RWD
Kia Niro EV S
Lexus UX 300e Luxury
Mazda MX-30 Electric E35 Astina
MG ZS EV Excite
MINI Electric Hatch Classic
Nissan LEAF
Polestar 2 Standard Range Single Motor
Tesla Model 3 RWD
Tesla Model Y RWD
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