Buying a new electric car doesn’t come cheap. Indeed, EVs tend to cost more upfront, with manufacturers arguing they save money in the long-run.
However, EVs are becoming less expensive to buy fresh off the assembly line as the race is on to provide people with affordable options, in and around the £20,000 sweet spot.
We’ve already seen the recipe for a small EV around this price point – with bags of personality, fun driving credentials and enough practicality – turn into a sales sensation with the Renault 5.
The retro-inspired EV is famously the first electric car to have a wait list.
Now almost every manufacturer is after that same £20,000 sales sensation and this year appears to be the one where new car buyers have a plethora of these EVs to choose from.
We’ve rounded up five new small EVs hitting the roads this year that will set you back between £20,000 and £25,000.
Spanish racing-inspired car brand Cupra has revealed its new Raval EV which will cost less than £23,000. It’s going up against the cheap Renault EVs like the Twingo and R5
1. Cupra Raval
Price: £22,785
Spain’s racing-inspired car brand Cupra is bringing an EV to the streets that will compete against the uber-popular French Renault 5 EV.
Volkswagen Group owns Cupra, and this new Raval launch is part of a push back against Renault’s successful cheap EV drive, with VW bringing out several cheap small EVs to compete.
Sharing 37kWh or 52kWh battery options with Skoda Epiq and Volkswagen ID Polo and ID Cross, the Raval comes in three trims and two special launch editions, and ranges of between 186 miles and 279 miles.
Inside the sport-tuned EV there’s a 10.25-inch instrument display, the biggest of any Cupra yet, and a 12.9-inch screen taken from the Cupra Born EV. Plus, a 430-litre boot – 45 litres more than the Born.
The cheapest Raval Core trim starts at £22,785 but it is expected to qualify for the Government’s Electric Car Grant in which case it will drop to £21,285.
Honda brings its new ‘Kei’ car inspired Super-N EV to the UK later this year and it is expected to cost around £20k
2. Honda Super-N
Price: Estimated £20,000
Honda is hoping its Super-N electric city car will sell in high volumes – something the Honda-e EV never managed.
The small, retro-inspired EV – which has an uncanny resemblance to the short-lived Nissan Cube of the late 2000s – is heavily inspired by Japan’s ‘Kei’ cars (pronounced ‘kay’), which are tiny – and affordable – vehicles that have been dominating Japan’s city streets for decades.
The Super-N is just 3.45 metres long, which is more than half a metre (60cm) shorter than the new Renault Twingo and much smaller than the typical 4.8m-long UK parking space.
With four seats, very limited (and yet unspecified) boot space and a 128-mile range (which can be stretched to 200 if only used for urban driving under 30mph) this tiny car is definitely made for whizzing around town and nothing else.
But for cheap zero-emission transport that fun and functional, it’s a charming idea. It goes on sale this summer.
The Polo – a best seller for VW for over 50 years – has come to life as an electric car. The c. £22k EV will be practical and stylish when it arrives this year
3. Volkswagen ID.Polo
Price: Estimated £22,000
The iconic Polo is going electric – 50 years after the bestseller first debuted.
The ID.Polo is the ID.2 concept in production form and is the first VW production model to feature technology built on VW’s new-gen EV platform MEB+.
It’s the first of four new VW EV models.
Inside the compact EV uses a clever layout to offer ample space for five people and up to 435 litres of luggage space to make sure the EV is even more practical than the combustion Polo.
And it brings a new cockpit design which will follow into other VW models and harks back to the charm of the 1980s with a retro display; a single press of a button and the digital instrument display transform into screen views that look like the first Golf.
Available in three outputs initially and two battery sizes you’ll get 279 miles of range maximum. A GTI will follow which will come with 223bhp.
Deliveries will start in late summer/early autumn and will start from around £22k.
Renault has nicknamed its new cheap EV, which costs under £20k, ‘Le Frog’. It will bring a fun hint of nostalgia to UK roads this year
4. Renault Twingo
Price: Estimated below £20,000
The Twingo brings a sense of cheer and chicness to the electric supermini class.
Renault boss Fabrice Cambolive said: ‘Accessibility to EVs is critical for the future, and Twingo offers something new for Renault, and for all car buyers.’
Like the Renault R5, the Twingo will be another last century inspired EV – this time bringing back the feel of the original 90s car in an updated electric form.
The five-door 3.79m-long manages to pack in a surprisingly spacious interior, a 360-litre boot and useful storage options like a closed centre organiser and smartphone cable organiser.
A 7-inch and 10-inch screen share 100 apps and use Google Built-in and Chat GPT but there are still buttons and dials for functions like aircon.
You get up to 163 miles of EV driving and 10 to 80 per cent charge in 30 mins.
It’s incredibly cheap, costing under £20,000.
The Kia EV2 is the South Korean brand’s smallest EV SUV and its cheapest model to date. It costs £24,245 and offers up to 281 miles of range
5. Kia EV2
Price: £24,245
Another urban EV – this time from South Korea.
The EV2 is Kia’s smallest electric SUV to date and it’s cheapest EV. It’s the sister model to the Hyundai Inster and rivals the Volvo EX30 and Renault 4 e-Tech.
‘Class-leading range’ provides customers with either 190 or 281 miles on a single charge and you can choose between four trims; Air, First Edition, GT-Line and GT-Line S.
Buyers of the EV2 get three screens and clever practical features including reclining seats and generous cargo space.
You can also configure the EV2 with the number of seats you want makes it one of the most functional supermini options on the electric market
It has 403 litres of boot space, slightly less than the Renault 4 e-Tech’s 420 litres, but the EV2 comes with a 15-litre frunk which the R4 does not.
And the interior is filled with sustainably sourced and made materials which gives the EV2 an extra gold star.
Orders have just opened and first customer deliveries are scheduled for later in 2026.