Best electric SUVs 2024

For the family car buyer, the Skoda Enyaq iV ticks an awful lot of boxes and demands very little in the way of compromise. Spacious inside, with a decent range on a charge, it's also a lot of car for the money, making this one of the best electric SUVs going. 

The Enyaq iV is based on the same platform as the pricier Volkswagen ID.4 and Audi Q4 e-tron, but despite these pricier siblings having a bit more brand appeal, it's the Enyaq iV that we'd recommend. For starters, the interior is every bit as good as the one found in the ID.4 and features a large and detailed 13.0-inch touchscreen. There's no shortage of space, either, with loads of room for front- and rear passengers, while the big boot should easily swallow up plenty of luggage. It's a very good electric car for parents with more than one child.

There are two flavours to choose between when it comes to battery power, with the Enyaq iV 60 delivering a range up to 256 miles between charges, and a bigger Enyaq iV 80 (later renamed as the 85) that will cover an official range of up to 333 miles (348 in the 85). 

If we had room on this list, Kia would have at least three cars featured: the Niro EV, the EV6 and this, the flagship EV9. The Korean company, together with its sister firm Hyundai, is developing quite the reputation for excellent value-for-money EVs, and the arrival of the EV9 signals their move into the more upmarket space, too.

This big seven-seat car is the priciest machine that Kia makes, taking on rivals such as the Volvo EX90 Electric and the Mercedes-Benz EQB. And it takes them on brilliantly, with a supremely comfortable and quiet driving experience, loads of tech included as standard and lots of space for seven inside.

OK, it's quite pricey when new, especially when, with the best will in the world, Kia doesn't quite have the brand image of Mercedes. But, you do get a suitably premium interior and a choice of either a 203PS motor giving rear-wheel drive, or a 384PS version with all-wheel drive in the GT-Line and GT-Line S models. The former will give you up to 348 miles from a single battery charge, according to official figures, while the more powerful model still claims up to 313 miles: impressive for a car of this size.

The BMW iX looks rather controversial due to its slightly awkward appearance and monstrous front grille. But we promise you two things: you'll soon get used to how it looks, and it's so good in every other area that you won't really care what anyone else thinks. And, hey, it's good to stand out from the crowd, right?

The range-topping BMW iX M60 is the one to go for if you want Tesla-baiting performance but, in all honesty, we reckon the mid-range iX xDrive50 is the one to go for. Its hefty 111kWh battery pack provides an impressive 380-mile range while performance isn't too shabby, either: it'll accelerate to 62mph in 4.6 seconds.

Just like the similarly-sized BMW X5, the BMW iX is practical enough to easily cope as your main family car. And the interior really is exquisite, thanks to a superb mix of high-quality materials along with impressive technology, including a 14.9-inch touchscreen infotainment display and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

While Kia's current electric flagship is the EV9, that title used to belong to the EV6. Its dramatic styling will certainly turn heads, while its bespoke electric platform means a surprising amount of space inside for passengers and luggage. 

What's more, its technology levels are seriously impressive: the EV6 embarrasses many more expensive premium models in that respect. Yet it manages to be easy to use, even for technophobes, and attractively designed. 

Where the Kia EV6's biggest appeal lies is on the road. You get strong performance, particularly with the dual-motor AWD model, plus sharp handling with a really tied-down feel. The ride is firm yet comfortable, too, while refinement is excellent. The icing on the cake is that it manages up to 318 miles on a charge, plus it's one of the fastest charging electric cars money can buy. What's not to like? 

After the smash hit of the also-excellent XC40, Volvo followed up with the even smaller and perhaps even better EX30. With a very solid battery range of up to 296 miles, depending on the model you go for, it's got a compact and clever design, and it doesn't cost the earth.

Small it might be, but the EX30 is very practical for its size, and a worthy, more premium-feeling alternative to the Kia Niro EV, Jeep Avenger or Nissan Ariya. The interior is textbook Scandinavian minimalism, albeit one that takes inspiration from Tesla by putting the controls for most of its features on a larger, portrait-orientated touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard.

There are three models to choose from with with rear- or all-wheel drive. All feel very good from behind the wheel, although we'd go for the Single Motor Extended Range model, which gets the most miles from a charge, and blends agile inner-city performance with composed confidence on the motorway. Overall, the EX30 is a great way into Volvo ownership.

The Nissan Ariya is a late arrival from the brand that pioneered the affordable mainstream electric car with the Leaf. Happily, while the Ariya is hardly the first electric SUV to market, biding its time has allowed Nissan to create a very competitive and likeable car. 

The Ariya is a bit bigger than a Qashqai but a whole lot more distinctive to look at, while the interior is cool, high-tech and full of lovely details, including haptic buttons buried in the wooden dashboard panel, and a centre console that electrically moves back and forth. 

The Nissan Ariya isn't just about gimmicks, though. There's plenty of space inside, although the boot isn't as large as the Skoda Enyaq's. It's a little pricier to buy than the Skoda, too, but you do get a higher quality interior with loads of standard kit.

The Ariya is also good to drive, with a nice balance between a comfortable ride and composed, predictable handling. We've only driven the entry-level single-motor car but even that has enough performance, while a range of up to 329 miles is competitive. It's not the fastest-charging electric car around, however. 

The Jeep Avenger is a really impressive little car, with excellent driving manners, perky electric performance and a competitive driving range. It isn’t perfect, with a cheap-feeling interior and limited practicality counting against it, but in pretty much every other respect it makes a very compelling case for itself.

Despite not being the poshest or roomiest, the Avenger’s interior still manages to feel irrepressibly cheery, and the ergonomics, infotainment and visibility are all areas of strength. There's a much-improved infotainment system over those of other Jeep models, and the driving experience mixes a zippy feel with a comfortable ride. It's particularly great around town, where Jeep says it'll do some 340 miles on a single battery charge.

For those that do a mix of driving in town, country and motorway, the official battery range is 244 miles, although we reckon 200 per charge would be doing well in the real world. That's not bad at all, especially considering the price, which is very competitive against rivals from the likes of Hyundai, Peugeot and Vauxhall.

Renault Megane is a very recognisable name in the world of family cars, but not so much in the world of electric cars. That's surely going to change, because the Megane E-Tech is a very compelling electric car offering. First of all, it looks extremely swish inside and out, with chic Gallic styling and high-quality materials. It also has one of the best infotainment systems in the business thanks to its Android-based software.

It's a really good car to drive, too. Refinement is strong and the ride is comfortable, but even more impressive is that it combines this civility with a level of genuine handling sparkle that many rivals simply cannot replicate, making it a really pleasant and engaging car to roll around in. The perky electric performance and a very decent official range simply top off the package.

We know, we know: the new Volvo EX90 is a hugely expensive car, even in the scheme of huge, all-electric, prestige SUVs. But the thing is that it's just so darned lovely that it doesn't feel like you're getting fleeced. There's so much to like about this car.

It looks great from the outside, with the cool design for which the Swedish manufacturer has rightly become known, while the interior is even better, with jaw-droppingly plush materials and effortless style. The huge cabin has enough room to carry seven adults in comfort, while there's also a useful 310-litre boot for their stuff. Use the car as a five-seater, and you get a whopping 655 litres of cargo space.

The driving experience is lovely: effortlessly quiet, comfortable and refined. Performance, too, is huge, due largely to the fist batch of EX90s only being available with massively powerful twin-motor powertrains. We expect more modest single-motor variants to become available imminently, which we can't imagine will be slow, but will certainly bring purchase prices down a fair bit.

With the latest BMW X1 being one of our favourite small SUVs, it's no surprise that the all-electric version - the BMW iX1 - has earned a place in this list. 

One on the most appealing parts is the iX1's spacious and upmarket cabin, borrowing some of the design and quality from the BMW iX flagship but at a more attainable price. You also get the latest version of BMW's iDrive infotainment, which remains just about the best system out there. 

From launch, the iX1 came with a dual-motor drive system giving out 313PS, and it was very rapid indeed. This was later joined by a 204PS single-motor version, which will still be brisk enough for the vast majority of buyers. The car is also supremely refined and easy to drive, and although the ride is on the firm side with the largest wheel options, you can choose smaller wheels to benefit comfort. 

With a range of up to 293 miles it might not be the longest-range electric car in this list, but it certainly isn't disgraced, either. You also get a decent 130kW rapid charging rate, adding 75 miles of range in as little as 10 minutes.