How to choose an electric car

Start with how you drive

Write down a normal week and the longest drive you do a few times a year. Most people's normal week is under 60 km a day, which any electric car covers several times over on one charge. The long drive is what the rest of this guide is about, and the answer for it is usually less range than you think.

If you can charge at home or at work, the car starts every day full and range only matters on the long drive. If you cannot, charging speed and the chargers near you matter more than range, because you will be using public chargers the way a petrol car uses a petrol station.

Range: the real figure, not the badge

The range on the badge is measured on a test cycle that is gentler than a highway. On a real long drive, at highway speed, in the cold or with a loaded car, plan on about 70 to 80% of it. A car rated at 450 km is a 350 km car on the motorway in winter, and that is fine: it is still a stop every two to three hours, which is the break most people take anyway. Our trip planning guide explains why 300 to 400 km of real range is plenty.

• Look for the range figure's test cycle. WLTP figures run about 10 to 15% higher than EPA ones for the same car.
• A heat pump keeps winter range up. It is standard on some cars and an option on others, and worth having in a cold climate.
• Bigger wheels and a sportier trim cost range. The efficient trim of a model often goes noticeably further.

To see what a range means on your own roads, put your usual long drive into the trip planner with each car's figure and compare the stops.

Charging speed and the curve

On a long drive, how fast the car charges matters more than how far it goes. Two cars with the same range can differ by twenty minutes a stop.

The headline figure is the peak DC power, such as 150 kW or 250 kW. It is the least useful one, because a car only holds its peak for a few minutes. What matters is the charging curve: how the power falls as the battery fills. A car that holds 120 kW all the way to 70% will out charge one that peaks at 200 kW and drops to 80 kW by 40%. The useful summary is the time from 10% to 80%, which is the band a road trip charges in. Around 20 minutes is quick, 30 is normal, 45 or more is slow.

• Cars built on 800 volt systems charge fastest, often 10% to 80% in under 20 minutes.
• The curve on our car pages comes from measured data where there is any, and is marked as an estimate where there is not.
• Cold batteries charge slowly. A car that warms its battery before a charger (preconditioning) charges at its curve in winter; one that does not may charge at half speed.

AC speed matters for charging at work or at the shops: 11 kW fills a typical battery overnight or in a working day, 7 kW takes longer, and a few cars take 22 kW. See the charging speeds guide for what each tier means.

Battery size and efficiency

Range is battery size times efficiency, and the second is the one to look at. A 60 kWh car that uses 15 kWh per 100 km goes as far as a 75 kWh car that uses 19, and it charges faster because there is less to fill. Small, light and aerodynamic cars are efficient; tall, heavy ones are not.

• Look at usable battery, not gross. Cars keep a few kWh in reserve that you never see.
• Efficiency figures under 15 kWh per 100 km are good; over 20 is thirsty.
• A smaller battery is cheaper to buy and quicker to charge. If you can charge at home, it is often the better choice.

Plugs, and charging at home

Buy a car with the plug the chargers near you have. In Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Europe that is CCS2 for fast charging and Type 2 for AC. In the US and Canada it is NACS, or CCS1 with an adapter on the way. A car with an older plug, such as CHAdeMO, will find fewer and fewer chargers. The plug types guide has pictures.

Then work out where the car will charge on an ordinary night. A wall box at home is the cheapest and easiest way to run an electric car. A normal socket works, slowly, and is fine for a small daily drive. If you park on the street, look at the chargers within walking distance of home and work on ChargeAlong before you choose a car, and prefer one that charges quickly.

The rest of the car

An electric car is still a car. Sit in it, drive it, load the boot, and check the things a brochure does not say.

• One pedal driving and how the regenerative braking feels, which you will use every day.
• Whether it can tow, and how much. Towing roughly halves the range.
• Whether the car can power things from its battery (vehicle to load), which is a fridge on a camping trip or a house in a blackout.
• The warranty on the battery, usually eight years, and what percentage of capacity it promises.
• Software: whether the car gets updates, and whether its own navigation plans charging stops.

Compare two cars

The comparison tool puts any two cars side by side: usable battery, real range, peak charging power, the time from 10% to 80%, and both charging curves drawn on one chart, so you can see where each one slows down. Every figure is credited to its source. Start from the list of cars if you are not sure of a name.

Once you have narrowed it to two, put your longest regular drive into the trip planner with each car's real range and charging figures. The difference in stops and charging time is the difference you will live with.