In 2023, electric vehicles comprised only 7.6% of new-car market according to data from Cox Automotive. That may not sound like much, but it’s up from 5.9% in 2022, and despite late-in-the-year naysaying, in the fourth quarter of 2023 EVs rose about 8.1%. Not only is the EV adoption rate increasing, but the number of compelling options is growing as more automakers look toward an electrified future.
At the same time, the ever-evolving rules around federal EV tax credits have changed again. Far fewer vehicles are eligible for these credits in 2024, but they are applied in a much more direct way now, fundamentally altering vehicle prices. It’s worth researching which vehicles qualify before heading to the store or prepping your trade-in.
To help you sort through it all, CarGurus has compiled a list of some of the best electric cars for sale. These are by no means all the options, and popular crossovers like the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen ID.4 deserve a mention, but we think these are the most compelling choices for most buyers.
The Best Electric Cars of 2024
- BMW iX
- Ford F-150 Lightning
- Hyundai Ioniq 5
- Hyundai Ioniq 6
- Kia EV9
- Lucid Air
- Polestar 2
- Porsche Taycan
- Rivian R1T
- Tesla Model 3
- FAQs
BMW iX
BMW’s first electric SUV, the iX debuted in 2022 and hasn’t changed all that much since. It’s looks are no less shocking to the uninitiated, but its love-it-or-hate-it lines do grow on you. They also make it very practical. Thanks to its tall, upright layout, the iX it provides 77.9 cubic feet of cargo space with the rear seats folded and 35.5 with them in place. There are also two very comfy rows of seats in its futuristic interior, and its backseat even looks a little like a Natuzzi sofa. There’s no front trunk, but travelers won’t be disappointed.
Nor will drivers. The iX weighs nearly 6,000 pounds, but unlike some other large electric SUVs, it handles in ways that almost entirely belie that heft. It drives much like an X5, only faster and quieter. It also offers more range and more compelling performance than the Audi Q8 e-tron or Mercedes-Benz EQE or EQS SUVs.
The iX features dual electric motors and all-wheel drive. In the xDrive50i, the motors combined to put out 516 horsepower, with an EPA-rated range of 307 miles (curiously down from 324 miles in 2023 with the same 20-inch wheels). The M60’s motors make a combined 610 horsepower and range falls to 296 miles. Its DC fast-charging capability allows the battery to go from 10% to 80% in about 40 minutes, or even add about 90 miles in 10 minutes of charging.
Ford F-150 Lightning
Many full-size electric pickups are coming to the market, but the best one you can buy right now is the Ford F-150 Lightning. With the exception of long-distance trailering, the Lightning does everything the regular gas-powered F-150s do, only better, and it offers on-pavement speed on par with the heady F-150 Raptor R. It makes adapting to EV life easy, too, by preserving all of the familiar feel and features of the regular F-150 Crew Cab body and bed. Until the Ram 1500 Revolution arrives in late 2024, it’ll be the only conventional full-frame, traditional-shaped EV pickup on the market.
The interior is comfortable, functional, and loaded with high-tech features, such as the SYNC infotainment system, with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In addition, the lack of a traditional engine means it has a front trunk, or “frunk,” which provides a huge amount of secure, lockable storage space, something most trucks don’t have and with an area unmatched by any other EV, car, truck, or SUV. As an electric truck to actually use for truck things or work duty, it’s hard to beat, but it doesn’t come cheap, with prices ranging from just under $60,000 into the low six figures.
For the 2023 model year, the range of the standard model is increased to 240 miles. Extended-range models, now led by the new-for-2024 Flash, offer up to 320 miles on a single charge. Opt for the top-trim Platinum, with its larger wheels, and mileage falls to 300. Home charging isn’t hard, and the Lightning also offers more onboard power capability than the regular F-150. On a DC fast charger, you can add about 54 miles of range in just 10 minutes.
Hyundai Ioniq 5
The Ioniq 5’s striking design was inspired by the brand’s very first car, the 1970s-era Pony, penned by Italian design maestro Giorgetto Giugiaro. Hyundai’s current stylists, led by SangYup Lee and Hak-Soo Ha, revisited those old looks and gave them a futuristic update for the Ioniq 5, which looks simultaneously both retro and contemporary. It also has a very modern interior, with a very spacious front seating area opened up by moving the shifter controls to the dash and a variety of other design flourishes.
Beyond how it looks, the Ioniq 5 is just very well thought out. It blurs the line between a big hatchback and a small SUV, but that yields a very generous 59.3 cubic feet of cargo space with the seats folded and 27.2 with them up. Passenger room is also generous, with almost 40 inches of rear legroom, nearly on par with the Tesla Model Y despite the Ioniq 5 being a smaller vehicle overall. The company’s engineers filled the cabin with cleanly designed, easy-to-use software and plenty of available tech features, all focused on a big slab of a dashboard.
The Ioniq 5 is offered in rear-wheel drive (RWD) and all-wheel drive (AWD) variants. The RWD Ioniq 5 also offers a Standard Range with a 168-horsepower motor, or a Long Range, which features a single 225-horsepower motor. The AWD models feature two motors that produce a combined 320 horsepower. A new, 641-horsepower, track-focused Ioniq 5 N joins the lineup for 2024, with an expected 200-mile range. Like the Electrified GV70 and Hyundai Group’s other E-GMP platform vehicles, the Ioniq 5 can charge very quickly on DC fast chargers, and charge at up to 350 kW. For buyers looking for a less expensive option, the Hyundai Kona Electric, redesigned for 2024, may hold some appeal.
Hyundai Ioniq 6
Though the Hyundai Ioniq 6 is based on the same platform as the Ioniq 5, you’d never know by looking. Where the 5 is a boxy, retro-chic crossover, the 6 is an ultra-aerodynamic sedan with Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and even Saab overtones. It’s a pretty wild look, but it’s meant to deliver spectacular aerodynamics. With a drag coefficient of just 0.21, just shy of the Mercedes-Benz EQS, the rear-drive, long-range Ioniq 6 can eke out a spectacular 361 miles of rated range. That’s more range than any other affordable EV though, and the Ioniq 6 SE Long Range starts in the low $40,000 range before incentives.
Since it shares the same 800-volt architecture and charging bits as the 5, the Ioniq 6 can also charge very quickly in the wild (10% to 80% in 18 minutes on a 350-kW DC fast charger), and even home charging is a little faster than some alternatives, juicing to 80% on a Level 2 home charger in only about five and a half hours. Base-model Ioniq 6s (the only ones starting under $40,000) get a 53.0-kWh battery pack and a single, 149-horsepower motor driving the rear wheels. This model isn’t much fun to drive and only offers 240 miles of range, but other versions are nicer.
The single-motor Long Range models have a 77.4-kWh pack and make 225 horsepower, while dual-motor all-wheel drive long ranges use that same pack but have 320 horsepower. While the rear-drive long range hits that huge range number, other versions have less, and opting for 20-inch wheels means accepting less range. None are as quick as the Tesla Model 3, but they’re not bad to drive. Inside, the Ioniq 6 is nearly as comfy as the 5, with plenty of space and a more capacious back seat than the Model 3. Unfortunately, the trunk is pretty small thanks to the 6’s teardrop shape.
Kia EV9
For 2024, Kia now offers a trio of electrics. The diminutive Niro EV anchors the bottom of the line while the svelte, overachieving EV6 is a sportier equivalent to Hyundai’s Ioniq 5. Both are good options, but the big news at Kia this year is the third and newest member of the family: the three-row EV9 SUV. While it’s true that the most desirable EV9 trims crest $60,000 and some go even higher, the EV9 is the first relatively affordable three-row electric family SUV, and has a starting price more than $20,000 lower than alternatives like the Rivian R1S or Tesla Model X, and nearly $50,000 less than the Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.
The EV9 rides the same E-GMP platform as the smaller EV6 and Ioniq 5, but stretches out to almost the same dimensions as Kia’s very popular gas-powered Telluride SUV. The Korean automaker has essentially given the EV9 all of the traits that buyers like about the Telluride but even more daring styling and more passenger space. The open-feeling front row is backed by a second-row bench or roomy captain’s chairs, and even a six-foot adult can sit in the third row. Cargo space is good too, with 20.2 cubic feet behind the third row, 43.5 with it folded, and 81.7 with both rows stowed. Plus, the cabin just feels upscale by family SUV standards.
There are three basic power configurations, the standard Light RWD with a 76.1-kWh battery and 215 horsepower, the Light Long Range with a 99.8-kWh pack but only 201 horsepower, and the Wind and Land e-AWD models using the larger pack but a dual-motor, 295 horsepower setup. The Light Long Range can return up to 304 miles of range, but most models earn between 240-270. Those single-motor versions are cheaper, but still quite a bit more expensive than the Telluride, and they’re pretty slow. The Wind and Land Models are the ones to have, but they’ll cost $63,900 to $69,900, not factoring in incentives or sales tax.
Lucid Air
Lucid Motors is an electric vehicle startup just like Tesla, and indeed, many of its key executives came from Tesla and set their sights on building even better products. The Lucid Air is the first of this California company’s offerings, and as “first vehicles” go, Lucid has knocked it out of the park. The Air not only looks and feels very luxurious, it offers more range than any other electric vehicle, near supercar performance from its top trims, and fantastic energy and space efficiency up and down the lineup.
The Air is about the same size as a Honda Accord, but it offers a back seat similar in size to a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or BMW i7. The big 16.1 cubic-foot trunk opens like a clamshell, making loading and unloading very easy, and has a hidden storage well underneath. There’s also a 7.1 cubic foot frunk, offering much more space up there than rivals like the Tesla Model S. There are now steel and glass roof versions of the Air, with higher trims getting the latter, and a high-tech cockpit full of screens. Those screens are a mixed bag though. They look great, and unlike Tesla you can use Apple CarPlay on them, but the software is complex and unintuitive.
There are four Lucid Air trims, each differing in output and range. The entry-level Pure features a single 480-horsepower electric motor and up to 419 miles of range. The Touring earns 425 miels of range but gains an additional electric motor for 620 horsepower. The Grand Touring features two electric motors with a combined 819 horsepower and 516 miles of range (the longest range of any EV on sale today). The Grand Touring Performance offers 1,050 horsepower and 446 miles. The new range-topping Sapphire has incredible 1,200 horsepower and a zero-to-sixty time of less than two seconds. Despite its performance focus, the Sapphire still notches 427 miles of range.
Polestar 2
Polestar was once a Volvo-focused tuner and motorsport company, then it became Volvo’s in-house performance division, and finally, it was spun off into a stand-alone electric vehicle brand. While still tied to Volvo in style, corporate parentage, and dealer networks, Polestar has been increasingly branching out in its own direction. The Polestar 2 is a high-riding sedan based on the same platform as Volvo’s XC40 Recharge and C40 Recharge electric SUVs (and the gas-powered XC40 crossover). It debuted in 2021 but has already been updated and improved since.
The base powertrain in the 2024 Polestar 2 features a single electric motor at the rear wheels making 295 horsepower and providing up to 320 miles of range. In previous years, the base model was front-wheel drive (FWD), made only 231 horsepower, and had only 270 miles of range. The more powerful dual-motor all-wheel drive model also gets upgrades, rising from 408 to 416 horsepower, and getting a 16-mile boost in rated range, to 276 in total. Dual-motor versions use a 75.0-kWh battery while single-motors get a larger 79.0-kWh unit. The improvements go a long way to making the Polestar 2 more compelling when judged against the BMW i4 and Tesla Model 3.
Behind the wheel, the Polestar is fun to drive, even if the ride is a bit stiff, and there’s no denying it’s Scandanavian style. The easy-to-use infotainment system is powered by Google and much more intuitive than Tesla’s alternative, and it also features over-the-air update capability and many connected services. Polestar has also added Apple CarPlay functionality. The 2’s most serious demerit is its small back seat, with just 33.9 inches of legroom (less than the Model 3’s also-confining rear). Cargo room, however, is good thanks to the car’s is hatchback layout.
Porsche Taycan
Though it’s no longer the fastest EV in a straight line, the Porsche Taycan is a sports sedan par excellence, and with its four-door coupe or fastback wagon profiles, gorgeous to behold. An updated 2025 Taycan is due later this year that will be even faster, but the Taycan’s hottest trims are about as close as it gets to piloting an exotic Rimac and they’re as practical to use as daily drivers as the gas-or-hybrid Panamera.
The entry-level Taycan features a single motor at the rear wheels that puts out 321 horsepower. The Taycan 4S has dual motors producing a combined 429 horsepower (and up to 522 horsepower with a boost function). At the top of the lineup is the Taycan Turbo S. Though the dual motors don’t actually have any turbochargers, it produces a combined 616 horsepower and up to 750 with overboost. These raw numbers are lower than cars like the Lucid Air Sapphire, but the Taycan, like a traditional Porsche, certainly makes the most of them.
The Taycan has a cockpit that is futuristic and upscale, yet still more conventional than that of the rival Tesla Model S. Porsche has also announced a Sport Turismo version of the Taycan, which is Porsche-speak for “wagon.” The Taycan Sport Turismo is about as sexy as you can get for a station wagon, and more practical than the sedan. The Taycan’s main weaknesses are its tiny back seat (due to it’s coupe-like lines) and limited range. Despite very fast charging times 2024 models max out at 246 miles on a full charge and most versions hover closer to 215 miles.
Rivian R1T
Rivian is yet another American EV startup, but while Tesla and Lucid have focused on cars and crossovers, Rivian is targeting outdoorsy EV buyers with its all-new electric truck, the R1T and its SUV sister, the R1S. Both offer lots of style, serious performance, clever features, good range, and a fair degree of luxury. The R1T came first, and there still isn’t any other truck on the market quite like it. It’s about the same size as a crew cab Toyota Tacoma, and it’s targeted at off-road enthusiasts just like the Toyota. In performance terms, however, it lives in another universe entirely.
The original quad-motor R1T makes up to 835 horsepower and can rocket from zero to 60 mph in three seconds. It’s fast enough to humble even a Dodge Challenger Hellcat in a drag race, and the fastest truck of any kind on the market. The newer dual-motor setup makes 600 hp, but it still hits 60 mph in 3.4 seconds. Off road, the quad-motor setup offers amazingly precise control on trails and the suspension can offer a range of ground clearance from 7.9 to 14.4 inches. There just aren’t many off-road vehicles that offer this level of hardware and talent. It can two up to 11,000 pounds, though range suffers when you do.
The large battery setups (135 or 180 kWh “Max pack”) offer 352 or 410 miles of range, while the standard pack (105 kWh) offers 270, and all can charge at up to 220 kW on a DC fast charger. Inside, the R1T has plenty of room and a cabin more like the upper luxury trims of full-size trucks than any other midsize pickup. It’s luxurious, and filled with cool features. There’s also a frunk and a secure pass-through tunnel/storage locker ahead of the rear wheels. What lets the truck down is the complexity of Rivian’s software and, like other EV startups, its heavy reliance on touchscreen controls.
Tesla Model 3
The Model 3 is the most affordable member of the current Tesla lineup, and it gets its first major revision for 2024. Like its larger Model S sibling, it has sharp handling, telltale exterior styling, and a futuristic, minimalist cabin. The interior’s design is dominated by a large central touchscreen that replaces the conventional instrument panel and controls, and for 2024 Tesla has even removed the turn signal and shifter stalks. While cool to look at, stuffing so many functions into a central screen can be annoying in daily driving, and there’s certainly a steep learning curve. Nor are Apple CarPay or Android Auto available.
Tesla has also given the interior materials a major upgrade for 2024, answering one of the prime criticisms of earlier Model 3s. While still not necessarily “opulent,” the new door fittings, redesigned standard heated-and-ventilated front seats, and ambient lighting make the Model 3 feel more like other cars in its price range. The back seat is still relatively small, but no worse than a BMW i4 or 3 Series. In cargo terms, however, the Model 3 is a serious overachiever, with nearly 20 cubic feet of rear trunk space and a useful 3.1 cubic foot frunk (front trunk) as well as lots of bins in the cabin.
In terms of performance, the Model 3 offers genuine handling prowess and plenty of power. 2024 models also get improved suspension damping, which will help smooth out the previously firm ride. There are three configurations, but only two have confirmed 2024 specifications. The standard rear-wheel drive model offers 272 miles of range and a zero-to-60 time of 5.8 seconds. The dual-motor Long Range offers up to 333 miles of range and 4.1-second zero-to-60 runs. The Model 3 Performance offers 315 miles of range and 3.1 seconds, but its 2024 updates are still to come at the time of this writing.
FAQs
What new EVs are launching in 2024?
Dozens of new models will arrive in 2024 and 2025, including the first U.S.-market EVs from Acura, Honda, Jeep, Lincoln, Lotus, Maserati, and Ram, among others. There are also updated and new models from a variety of traditional automakers, including the new Kia EV9, the first affordable three-row electric SUV, the new BMW i5, Hyundai’s hot Ioniq 5 N, and many more, while others, like the Volkswagen ID.4, are improved.
Why isn't the Chevrolet Bolt EV being recommended?
The Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV have been discontinued for 2024, but the latter will return with new battery architecture in 2025. The Bolt, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model 3 now also make excellent used car options.
Is Tesla launching any new EVs in 2024?
While Tesla is still the volume king among electrics, other manufacturers are beginning to catch up, offering more compelling products with even more range and often, more appealing interiors. But Tesla hasn’t rested on its laurels. This year sees the debut of the controversial new Cybertruck, but more importantly, an updated Model 3. Fellow EV startups Fisker, Lucid, and Rivian haven’t been idle either, and the first two will also have new 2024 models, the affordable Fisker Pear crossover and Lucid’s first SUV, the Gravity.
