The time has come to find out which electric car will be taking EVision’s EV top spot for 2022. What will it be?!
Good news! I’ve not been reported to Ofcom for my choices from 10-6 on my countdown of my top 10 cars in the EVision inventory. No one has lynched me just yet, so let the controversy continue as I give you my countdown from number 5 to number 1.
Number 5 – Hyundai Ioniq 5
Kicking off the second half of this list is the Hyundai Ioniq 5. We are yet to receive this car at EVision Electric Vehicles (don’t worry, it is coming soon) but I have been fortunate enough to see this electric car enough to give my impressions of it.
My first viewing of the Ioniq 5 took place at the Fully Charged Show Live in 2021. You could tell where the Ioniq was as it was the car with most people swarming around it. The car looks stunning. Confusingly, the Ioniq looks both modern and retro. The futuristic tech and sublime body lines are completed with lighting that takes you back to that 80’s vibe. There is something of a polaroid camera flash cube air about the headlights. It is painfully cool and I love it. It is not surprising that the Hyundai Ioniq has been so popular.
Now, I can’t tell you much about how the Hyundai Ioniq 5 drives (I haven’t driven one yet) but I can give you the performance specs from Hyundai for the all-wheel drive model that we will be receiving at EVision Electric Vehicles soon. The WLTP range for the 73kWh AWD Ioniq 5 is 267 miles. The car has a reported top speed of 115mph and can achieve 0-62mph in 5.1s. These are pretty fantastic stats for this stunning vehicle.
Number 4 – Audi e-tron 55 Quattro
The Audi e-tron 55 Quattro was the big introduction to the electric car world from the long-established car manufacturer and it didn’t disappoint. Is it an SUV? Is it an estate car? Who knows, but we love it. Strong, big and really well built. The quality of this vehicle is there to be seen.
This dependably solid 4WD automobile provides an impressive 290 miles WLTP range which is a huge amount considering the size of the e-tron 55 Quattro. The fact that this vehicle can achieve 0-60mph in just 6.2s is incredible too. A respectable top speed of 112mph really is just the cherry on top of the performance cake.
Where the Audi e-tron 55 Quattro is miles ahead of the competition is in space. There is tonnes of the stuff. All the way from the froot to the boot, the 55 Quattro will blow you away.
Number 3 – Ford Mustang Mach-E
We have reached the top 3! Get ready for the big hitters now, starting with the legend in the making, the Ford Mustang Mach-E. The Mustang tag means that the car has a lot to live up to. Mustang means muscle car. Big “have at me, hoss” attitude and powerful performance to boot. The John Wayne and Clint Eastwood of the car world, if you will. EVision will be getting a good number of the Mach-E cars this year and I cannot wait to get behind the wheel. The Mustang has made an appearance at several events that EVision has attended in the last year and, even based on it’s looks, this car is mightily impressive.
Of course, a car cannot survive on looks alone. The performance more than matches the appearance. The Mustang Mach-E holds an astonishing 3 World Records: The fewest charging stops by an electric car driving from John O’Groats to Landsend (840 miles). They only needed the single charging stop!; the shortest combined charging time for an electric car driving from John O’Groats to Landsend, which was just 43 minutes and 13 seconds (beating the Tesla record by half an hour!); and the Mach-E also holds the record for the most efficient drive from John O’Groats to Landsend, using just 6.54 miles per kWh on average over the whole 840 mile trek. We are still in awe of these amazing achievements.
More information about the Mustangs coming to EVision will be released soon. However, I think these astonishing records are more than enough to give the Ford Mustang 3rd place.
Number 2 – Tesla Model 3
Tesla, Tesla, wherefore art thou Tesla? Ah, there you are!
The day we put together a list of the top electric vehicles and it doesn’t include a Tesla will be a very strange day indeed. There is only one Tesla on the list this time and it goes to the Tesla Model 3.
The Tesla Model 3 broke a lot of barriers when it was first introduced. The leading name in the electric car industry, famed for expensive high performance vehicles, finally released a more affordable option that didn’t compromise on performance. The sleek, aerodynamic sporty appearance was a winner from the start and global sales of the model 3 show that it is a surefire winner wherever it goes.
Let’s look at the performance in more detail. At EVision, we have 3 different specs to choose from. Here I will focus on the performance long range spec. The WLTP range is a whopping 352 miles! There are probably only a couple of electric cars on the market that can even get close to that figure at present. The Model 3 is small, but it still carries a huge 75kWh battery and has the perfect aerodynamic body stylings that help reach such an impressive figure.
The performance spec is also quick… very quick. Hitting 0-60 in just 3.3s and able to go up to 162mph, the Tesla Model 3 will leave every other car in its smoke. That is if it emitted smoke. Being zero emissions it obviously doesn’t, but you get the picture.
Number 1 – Kia EV6
There are very few people who would disagree with my choice for first place. The Kia EV6 won the Whatcar? Car of the Year 2022 award and it is easy to see why.
The shape of the EV6 isn’t too dissimilar to the Jaguar I-Pace but with rounder, smoother lines. There is something about the body that just looks so cool. Whether it is the body, the shape of the wing mirrors, the interesting lighting positioning or a combination of all three, I don’t know although I expect it is the latter.
Unlike the earlier Kias such as the e-Niro (a former winner of the Whatcar? Car of the Year in its own right) is that the Kia EV6 is built from the ground up on the revolutionary E-GMP platform from sister company, Hyundai. This platform gives the EV6 a huge amount of cabin space. It’s not just in the cabin where there is a generous amount of space. The boot offers a generous amount of room that can easily fit in several suitcases.
Kia has put a huge amount of thought into this vehicle. The Kia EV6 was under a lot of pressure as it was given the task of reinventing the Kia brand. The little things really matter. The comfortable seats curve around the body to help keep the driver stable on the tighter corners, all while the headrest hugs your cranium like a fluffy cloud. Something I have found lacking in some other makes and models that Kia does really well is charge points. They are everywhere in the EV6. There is even a 3-pin plug under the back seat!
Apple Play and Android mirroring are available in the EV6 as standard and that’s just the start of the great tech. Everything has been really well thought out. There are buttons for all the things you want a button for with everything else available on the touchscreen. Not too cluttered and not too minimal. It’s just right.
When it comes to performance you will be hard pushed to find a similar sized car with the same performance. You certainly wouldn’t get anywhere near the same space, tech, performance from any other car in the same price range. The Kia EV6 has more cabin space than the Polestar 2 (a more premium car), it has much more cabin space than the Tesla Model 3, and it is much quieter on the road (Tesla is a more premium car), You will get more range than the Audi e-tron, the Jaguar I-Pace, the Mercedes EQC and a whole load of the Tesla Model S cars (all are more premium brands).
Something that is very impressive with the Kia EV6 is that every single spec has a WLTP range over 300 miles. Not even the Tesla Model 3 can offer such exceptional range performance across all specs. This is largely due to the fact that the Kia EV6 only released the vehicle with the 77kWh battery in the UK, opting not to offer the smaller sized battery that is available on the continent (note that the EV6’s sister car, the Ioniq 5 has more than one battery size option).
The handling of the EV6 is incredibly fun. When put into sport mode the car will happily take on the B roads with a bit more purpose than you would usually find with other EV’s ‘sport’ modes. The damping isn’t as strong as the Ioniq 5. This isn’t a bad thing though. Yes, you can feel the road a little more, but you want that in a sportier brand of vehicle. There is enough dampening, however, to keep the drive comfortable.
EVision offers the Kia EV6 in the GT Line AWD spec, meaning that you have a top speed of 116mph and can achieve 0-60mph in an impressive 5.2s. Later this year or early next year Kia will be releasing the GT version of the EV6. This is not to be confused with the GT Line which is currently available. The GT will certainly confuse a lot of people. Have you ever been in a family SUV/hatchback that can do 0-60mph in 3.5s? No, me neither!
Some Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading through my personal top 10. Of course, I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. To be honest, I will be slightly surprised if anyone has the same top 10 in the same order as I have. This is the beauty of having such a diverse range of electric vehicles. Not everyone will like the same things. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder.
Having taken time to put my top 10 cars together, and it did take some considerable time, I can happily conclude that the electric car market is looking far stronger than it ever has been. Not too long ago you wouldn’t have been able to make a top 10 list without including different variations of the Tesla Model S75 etc. The market is going from strength to strength with so many amazing cars coming out in the next few years. I for one cannot wait to see what rolls into the EVision Electric Vehicles forecourt.
If you don’t agree with my list or the reasons I have given, head over to our social media pages and tell us why you are wrong (I say in jest). What would you have chosen and why? I look forward to seeing what you have to say.
