The UK’s Cheapest Electric Vehicles & Fastest On Road Trips

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Leasing Options, a leasing service that has been serving the UK for over 30 years, has shared its findings on the fastest and cheapest electric vehicles (EVs) in the UK. In an EV range race from John O’Groats to Land’s End, Tesla was the speediest brand. Some key findings from the race are as follows:

  • The Tesla Model S and Model X tied at 1st place finishing with a total time of 16 hours and 18 minutes.
  • The Tesla Model 3 finished at 3rd place and was over 40 minutes faster than the Audi e-tron that came in 4th.
  • The Renault Zoe is the cheapest, and the driver paid only £53.61 to make the 837-mile trip.
  • The Tesla Model 3 was the 2nd cheapest at £58.40 for the trip, 30p cheaper than its bigger brothers.
  • Volkswagen’s e-Golf is the most expensive, costing £35 more than the winning Renault Zoe, with a total of £89.01.

EV Performance

Speed

Tesla reigns king in terms of speed. The brand dominated the time trial and took all three podium positions. The Model S and Model X finished in first place (tied), with a total time of 16 hours and 18 minutes. The Model 3 finished a bit slower but 40 minutes faster than the Audi e-tron, which came in at 4th place.

Compared with the Jaguar I-PACE, Audi demonstrated the importance of a fast-charing battery. The vehicle took frequent stops but was able to get back on the road in under 30 minutes. In comparison, the I-PACE took 45 minutes for its recharge times.

The BMW i3 took 6th place with a time of 18 hours and 48 minutes. It beat the Renault Zoe by around 30 minutes. The EV that finished last was the VW e-Golf. Its time was 20 hours and 36 minutes.

Cost

If the race didn’t factor in the speed and only focused on cost, the Renault Zoe would be the clear winner. It cost the driver only £53.61 to make the 837-mile trip. Following directly behind the Renault are the three Teslas, led by the Model 3.

Slowest & Most Expensive

The EV that was both slowest and most expensive was the VW e-Golf. The trip cost the driver £89.01 and the e-Golf was the last vehicle to finish, 43 minutes slower than the second slowest model, the Nissan LEAF. The Audi e-tron was the next most expensive. The driver had to pay around £86.08 for the trip.

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Methodology

Leasing Options had to take many factors into account to plan this epic race, starting with the route, which was planned out using the AA’s route planner. Following that, the organizers worked out the initial cost of charging the car’s batteries prior to the race. These numbers were calculated using guidance from an Auto Express report that detailed the cost per kWh.

The next part was determining how far each vehicle could go before needing to recharge. They used real-life range from the Electric Vehicle Database. Once they had the numbers, they took the fast charge times and miles from the Electric Vehicle Database and plotted those onto the map to pinpoint where each car would need to recharge again. That was repeated until that car crossed the finish line.

Finally, they crunched the numbers to figure out how much each recharge would have cost with the aid of Zap Map’s cost calculator and Auto Express. After this, they totaled up all of the times and costs to give the final figures above. One thing Leasing Options noted in its blog was that these figures could differ slightly from actual times and costs even though they have been calculated as accurately as possible.

The Real Winners Are Those Switching To EVs From Fossil Fuel Vehicles

Although this was a fun race in the UK to determine which EVs were faster and cheaper for such a race, I want to point out that not everyone races vehicles. Many simply use vehicles to go from points A to B and maybe C, D, and sometimes E, and so on.

The real winners are those making the switch to electric vehicles from fossil fuel vehicles. Electric vehicles are more fun, cleaner, and guilt free.

16 hours is notably different from 20 hours for a road trip, but any of these vehicles could be a fun, pleasant option for an electric road trip.

All photos provided by Leasing Options and used with permission. 


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Johnna Crider

Johnna owns less than one share of $TSLA currently and supports Tesla's mission. She also gardens, collects interesting minerals and can be found on TikTok

Johnna Crider has 1996 posts and counting. See all posts by Johnna Crider