Which Electric Vehicle Should You Buy?
With the recent announcement in the US regarding the latest electric vehicle the Chevrolet Volt and the UK Government confirming it would stand by the grant for electric vehicle buyers, what is the best Electric Vehicle (EV) for your money?
The Volt which still hasn’t been confirmed for a UK launch is at a premium compared to the Nissan Leaf (£23,000) but is comparable with Mitsubishis offering the iMiEV. Although no pricing has been confirmed for the iMiEV as of yet it is more expensive than the Leaf in Europe and Japan.
The big factor that owners will take into account when deciding what EV to buy is the range, the best by far is the Volt which includes a small gas engine allowing the battery to be charged whilst going, giving it a range of 547km which is more akin to a standard car. This blows away the nearest competition the Leaf which only has a range of 160km and makes the iMiEV’s offering 129km comparable to those electric jeeps you see in Toys R Us.
Another issue maybe speed but this is unlikely to deter any EV purchasers except for maybe Tesla fans. In this category the Volt again comes out on top with speeds of 161km/h (100mph) but this time it is a lot closer with the Leaf and iMiEV coming in at 145km/h (90mph) and 130km/h (81mph) respectively. This is still above any legal speed limit on British roads.
Thirdly something people don’t really seem to think about is charging time again the Volt is top of this one but not in a good way, to fully charge Chevy’s offering will take around 10 hours compared to Nissan and Mitsubishis eight and six hour charging time.
So overall if you want something to try and take the place of your petrol car, if it gets released in Britain the Chevrolet Volt is your best choice or you could pay the $41,000 and try and get hold of a really big plug convertor. Otherwise if you want a city/town run around then the Nissan Leaf or Mitsubishi iMiEV could be for you. They are perfect as city cars which is what the first batch of electric vehicles have been designed for.