Tesla Model Y
The Tesla Model Y is the slightly gawkier-looking, more practical and grown-up brother of the big-selling Model 3. It’s 50mm longer than the Model 3 but importantly some 180mm taller, offering significantly more cabin space but a similar chassis specification which, at launch, will only include twin-motor long-range models that will look a little bit expensive compared to other cars in this list, with prices starting from a whisker under £55,000. That’ll get you the ‘Long Range’ version of the Model Y, which has 434bhp; does 0-62mph in just 5.0sec flat; and has a range of 315 miles. Ally all of that with the advantages brought by access to Tesla’s extensive ‘supercharger’ public charging network and you’ve got an EV that, on paper at least, certainly looks like it should be worth paying a premium for.
Audi Q4 E-tron Quattro
If you can’t quite justify the cost of a full-sized Audi E-tron Quattro for your first foray into premium EV ownership, there is this: the smaller Q4 E-tron. LIke its bigger sibling it comes in both regular-bodied and extra-swoopy ‘sportback’ silhouettes, but unlike the bigger car it uses the VW Group’s specially developed ‘MEB’ model platform. Those underpinnings allow it to offer four-wheel drive to those who want it, and in excess of 300bhp; but they also give it a mechanical link to cheaper sibling cars like the VW ID4 and Skoda Enyaq iV, which we rank elsewhere in our family EVs chart.
That relationship doesn’t seem to be putting off European buyers of this car any more than its pug-nosed looks or its glitzy but slightly plain-feeling cabin quality; but it was enough to temper our reaction to the car when we road-tested it. The Q4 E-tron demonstrates how tricky it will be for premium brands to differentiate platform-engineered cars in the all-electric era, when extra value can no longer be added by refined or high-performing combustion engines, and chassis technologies are shared across brands. It’s a credible car, with a range of approaching 300 miles in the case of the longest-legged versions: but it isn’t well distinguished dynamically, by its only superficially different design, or by the upmarket ambience of its interior.
