Average Cost of an Electric Car UK 2024

Electric Car Insurance

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Electric cars are known for being cheaper to run than combustion engine cars (as we discuss here), but how much does an electric car cost to buy? We've gathered data on dozens of popular UK makes and models to find out.

(And if you're curious about charging costs, also read our article on the cost to charge an electric car.)

Purchase Prices of Electric Cars UK

The average cost to buy an electric car in the UK is around £50,000, with EV prices ranging from £22,225 up to £157,160, or even more (in the UK we will soon have the solar-charged Lightyear 0 that starts from £265,000 and the Rolls-Royce Spectre that starts from £350,000!).

Luxury cars such as Tesla, Porsche, Audi, Jaguar and Mercedes (many of which made our list of fastest electric cars) will set you back £77k on average, while a non-luxury EV costs closer to £33k on average. The cheapest models from the cheapest 12 brands cost around £30,000 on average.

Cheap electric car brands

12 Cheapest Electric Car Brands UKCheapest ModelsStarting PriceBattery (kWh)Average Real Range (combined driving) in miles
1Cheapest Smart EVSmart EQ fortwo coupe£22,22516.760
2Cheapest MG EVMG MG4 EV Standard Range£25,99550.8185
3Cheapest Vauxhall EVVauxhall Corsa-e£28,55545.0175
4Cheapest Nissan EVNissan Leaf 39 kWh£28,99539.0145
5Cheapest Fiat EVFiat 500e Hatchback 42 kWh£29,43537.3145
6Cheapest Citroen EVCitroen e-C4£29,99545.0165
7Cheapest Mazda EVMazda MX-30£30,05030.0105
8Cheapest Peugeot EVPeugeot e-208£30,19545.0175
9Cheapest Hyundai EVHyundai Kona Electric 39 kWh£30,45039.2155
10Cheapest Mini EVMini Electric£31,00032.6110
11Cheapest GWN EVORA Funky Cat First Edition£31,99547.8170
12Cheapest Renault EVRenault Zoe ZE50 R110£31,99552.0190

Looking for value for money? The following chart plots these cars by starting OTR price and estimated real range. It looks like the MG MG4 EV Standard Range offers the best range for the price:

Chart showing the cheapest EV brands in the UK

Here are some more stats on the cost of electric cars in the UK:

How much does an electric car cost?
Cheapest electric car (Smart EQ fortwo coupe)£22,225
Average cost of cheapest models from 12 cheapest brands£29,240
Non-luxury electric cars£33,000
All UK electric cars£52,000
Luxury electric cars£77,000
Most expensive electric car (Mercedes EQS AMG 53 4MATIC+)£157,160
chart showing the average purchase price of an EV in the UK

Insuring an Electric Car

As you've probably heard in the news lately, the cost of EV insurance is more than people might expect, because it is more expensive to insure an electric car than an internal combustion engine (ICE) car. Why? Lots of factors, including a shortage of mechanics qualified to work on EVs and the high cost of battery replacement.

Even the companies we discuss is our page on cheap car insurance might charge more for EVs, although they can generally be a good place to start. Also check out our piece discussing electric car insurance companies.

Methodology

We gathered data from the EV Database on battery capacities, starting OTR prices and ranges to learn more about the cost of EVs in the UK. Here are the cars we used in the study, which we grouped by luxury, cheap and other non-luxury cars (note, to pick the "cheapest" cars we compared the cheapest car from each EV make):

Luxury Electric Vehicles UK

  • Porsche Taycan Turbo S
  • Porsche Taycan Turbo
  • Porsche Taycan 4S Plus
  • Porsche Taycan 4S
  • Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback 55 quattro
  • Audi Q8 e-tron 55 quattro
  • BMW iX xDrive 40
  • Mercedes EQC 400 4MATIC
  • Audi Q8 e-tron 50 quattro
  • Jaguar I-Pace EV400
  • BMW iX3
  • Tesla Model 3 Performance
  • Tesla Model Y Long Range
  • Tesla Model 3 Long Range
  • Tesla Model 3 Standard Range

Cheapest Electric Vehicles from the 12 Cheapest EV Brands UK

  • Smart EQ fortwo coupe
  • MG MG4 EV Standard Range
  • Vauxhall Corsa-e
  • Nissan Leaf 39 kWh
  • Fiat 500e Hatchback 42 kWh
  • Citroen e-C4
  • Mazda MX-30
  • Peugeot e-208
  • Hyundai Kona Electric 39 kWh
  • Mini Electric
  • Renault Zoe ZE50 R110
  • ORA Funky Cat First Edition

Other Popular Non-Luxury Electric Vehicles UK

  • Volkswagen ID.3 Pro Performance
  • Hyundai IONIQ 5 Long Range AWD
  • Skoda Enyaq iV 80
  • Kia Soul EV 64 kWh
  • Kia Niro EV
  • Nissan Leaf e+ 62 kWh
  • Peugeot e-2008 SUV
  • Renault Zoe Z.E. 50 R135

Supporting Data

Note about the data below: To calculate the cost to fully charge a car, we therefore multiplied the usable battery capacity of a car by the unit cost of electricity. We used 34p/kWh as the cost of electricity, assuming cars are charged at home at the current price cap. Cars charged at expensive fast-charge public stations can cost multiples of these figures to charge.

Electric Car Purchase and Charging CostsAverage Real Range (miles)Usable Battery (kWh)Estimated Cost of Full ChargeEstimated Cost per MileStarting price (£)
Porsche Taycan Turbo S24583.7£28.5£0.12£138,826
Porsche Taycan Turbo25583.7£28.5£0.11£115,858
Porsche Taycan 4S Plus28583.7£28.5£0.10£90,406
Porsche Taycan 4S24571£24.1£0.10£86,500
Audi Q8 e-tron Sportback 55 quattro325106£36.0£0.11£80,300
Audi Q8 e-tron 55 quattro305106£36.0£0.12£77,800
BMW iX xDrive 4022071£24.1£0.11£77,305
Mercedes EQC 400 4MATIC23080£27.2£0.12£70,035
Audi Q8 e-tron 50 quattro25589£30.3£0.12£67,800
Jaguar I-Pace EV40023584.7£28.8£0.12£66,350
BMW iX324074£25.2£0.10£62,865
Tesla Model 3 Performance28575£25.5£0.09£61,490
Tesla Model Y Long Range27075£25.5£0.09£57,990
Tesla Model 3 Long Range30075£25.5£0.09£57,490
Tesla Model 3 Standard Range23557.5£19.6£0.08£48,490
Smart EQ fortwo coupe6016.7£5.7£0.09£22,225
MG MG4 EV Standard Range18550.8£17.3£0.09£25,995
Vauxhall Corsa-e17547£16.0£0.09£28,555
Nissan Leaf 40 kWh14539£13.3£0.09£28,995
Fiat 500e Hatchback 42 kWh14537.3£12.7£0.09£29,435
Citroen e-C416545£15.3£0.09£29,995
Mazda MX-3010530£10.2£0.10£30,050
Peugeot e-20817547£16.0£0.09£30,195
Hyundai Kona Electric 39 kWh15539.2£13.3£0.09£30,450
Mini Electric11028.9£9.8£0.09£31,000
Renault Zoe Z.E. 50 R11019052£17.7£0.09£31,995
ORA Funky Cat First Edition17047.8£16.3£0.10£31,995
Volkswagen ID.3 Pro Performance21558£19.7£0.09£36,900
Hyundai IONIQ 5 Long Range AWD23574£25.2£0.11£48,900
Skoda Enyaq iV 8026077£26.2£0.10£42,925
Kia Soul EV 64 kWh22564£21.8£0.10£38,995
Kia Niro EV23565£22.0£0.09£36,245
Nissan Leaf e+ 62 kWh21059£20.1£0.10£34,945
Peugeot e-2008 SUV15545£15.3£0.10£33,700
Renault Zoe Z.E. 50 R13519052£17.7£0.09£31,995
Avg. UK Electric Car21263£21.3£0.10£51,857
Avg. UK Electric Car (cheap)14840£13.6£0.09£29,240
Avg. UK Electric Car (Tesla)27371£24.0£0.09£56,365
Avg. UK Electric Car (non-luxury)17549£16.6£0.09£32,775
Avg. UK Electric Car (luxury)26281£27.5£0.11£77,300

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