Cheapest electric cars 2025
Electric cars used to be expensive relative to combustion-engined models of the same size. Encouraged along by the government's Electric Car Grant, the market is now full of very affordable options.
Electric car prices have fallen significantly recently — a major win for those who had previously been put off buying them because of their up-front cost.
The major factor behind the price drop is the government's Electric Car Grant (ECG) introduced on 11 August 2025. Manufacturers whose EVs fall outside the scope of the ECG have lowered their prices in order to remain competitive, hence the good news for electric car buyers.
Some electric cars are built from the ground-up solely with battery power in mind while others, such as the Citroen e-C3, are alternatively available with combustion engines assisted by varying degrees of hybridisation.
What's interesting in the case of those latter multiple propulsion-type cars is that the price gap between the options has narrowed, although the EVs usually remain the more expensive option — until now. The reintroduction of state-funded grants for electric car buyers means that in many cases the EV option is going to be the cheaper one.
All of the cheapest electric cars currently on sale fall way under the ECG's nominal £37,000 price ceiling, yet only four of the ten are currently subject to the government's discount scheme. Even they have only been reduced by £1500 by being rated in the ECG's Band 2 level — no cars have yet been awarded Band 1 status for the full £3750 discount.
The application process for electric car manufacturers is rigorous and takes time. In the interim, many brands have started their own discount schemes, labelling them as 'grants', which in some cases match the maximum £3750 ECG deduction.
It's a rapidly changing situation, so we've based the order of this list of the cheapest electric cars on the least expensive version's on-the-road (OTR) price, including the government's ECG but not manufacturers' short-term finance deals. As always, we urge you to shop around for the best deal before choosing any car.
A final spot of housekeeping before we delve in — you won't see the Citroen Ami in this list despite it often being dubbed the UK's cheapest electric car. From a legal perspective it's not a car but a quadricycle. If you're considering an electric quadricycle because of their low cost, you're likely to be better served by a used electric car instead.
So, with that out of the way, here's our rundown of the cheapest electric cars available in the UK:
Cheapest electric cars
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Dacia Spring — from £14,995
Here it is, the cheapest electric car in the UK which is... actually a car. At £14,995, the Dacia Spring drastically undercuts most of the options on this list. Unfortunately, to achieve that rock-bottom price some compromises have been made.
First off, for that lowest price you're only getting a paltry 45PS of power to play with. If you want the 65PS version it's an extra £1000 plus another grand on top of that for the better-equipped Extreme trim level.
A bigger issue than the lack of power is the car the Dacia Spring is based upon — a 10-year-old Renault which was originally designed for emerging markets. This is painfully obvious in the Dacia Spring's low-quality feel and the way it drives. Its handling is iffy and refinement is poor.
So much so that even at £15,000 the Dacia Spring is a a hard sell. Not that you need spend anywhere near that, as there are some staggeringly good pre-registration deals available — we've seen as much as £6000 off, at which point the Dacia Spring starts to make more sense.
Leapmotor T03 — from £15,995
It might only be £1000 more expensive than the cheapest Dacia Spring but the Leapmotor T03 is a much more convincing low-cost EV effort.
Interior quality is significantly higher in the Leapmotor and with 95PS available from its motor, it's a rocketship in comparison with the Dacia. It will also travel up to 165 miles on a full charge, which is 25 more than the Spring manages.
Not that the T03 is compromise-free. Its handling is best described as 'basic' and there are some glaring specification omissions, including the lack of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto connectivity. You don't even get DAB radio — we can't remember the last time we tested a car without it.
BYD Dolphin Surf — from £18,650
If you can get past the daft and frankly confusing name — there's little relationship here to the larger BYD Dolphin, let alone gnarly water sports — the BYD Dolphin Surf has a lot going for it. At £18,650 the entry-level version isn't drastically more expensive than the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03, yet the difference between them and the BYD is big.
The interior quality feels like an improvement not just on those two but also over the more expensive Fiat Grande Panda Electric. There's also a decent amount of boot space, although it is quite a narrow car which means it's only possible to squeeze four seats into it, not five.
The only problem is that the entry-level Dolphin Surf is sluggish. Its 88PS output might have been fine if it actually picked up speed quickly when you put your foot down but there's a weird delay before it finally gets a move on. A pokier motor is available but only in conjunction with available with a larger battery — that increases the driving range to 200 miles on the WLTP Combined cycle with the price correspondingly rising to £21,950.
Citroen e-C3 — from £20,595 with ECG
Before the government's £1500 ECG discount was applied, the Citroen e-C3 was around a grade more expensive than its Fiat Grande Panda Electric cousin, although it does have more standard equipment to compensate. As and when the Fiat receives the same level of grant, the price difference will be restored in its favour.
As much as as there's lots to like about the Grande Panda's colourful touches, they won't be for everyone, making the more subtle Citroen a good alternative for those wanting to fly under the radar. Yet beneath the bodywork the two cars are much the same, which means there's a 44kWh battery pack powering a 113PS motor and providing a 201-mile range according to the WLTP Combine cycle test.
Fiat Grande Panda Electric — from £21,035
Costing £21,035 but packing in much more of a sense of fun than any car on this list, the Fiat Grande Panda Electric proves that cheap can indeed also mean cheerful.
While sharing a lot in common with the Citroen e-C3, right down to its basic shape, the Fiat still has a real sense of its own identity thanks to neat details including the massive PANDA lettering stamped into the lower section of the doors. Its interior benefits from use of bamboo-derived materials and vibrant, translucent plastics.
It offers up to 199 miles of driving on a full charge — one less than the BYD Dolphin Surf's best — for a good chunk of change less. Plus we expect the Fiat to follow other similar Stellantis models and soon be confirmed as being in receipt of the Band 2 ECG discount, reducing its starting price down to £19,535
Nissan Micra — from £21,495 with ECG
Once again, Nissan has a small car in its range wearing its long-serving Micra badge, albeit owing much to its corporate partner Renault. Despite bodywork which is predominantly unique to the Micra, its underpinnings, motors, battery packs and the bulk of the interior are shared with the retro-cutesy 5 E-Tech. The pair are even built alongside one another in France.
Yet Nissan has eked some efficiency advantages for the Micra over its Renault counterpart — despite starting at the same price of £21,495 with the £1500 government grant discounted. That's for the 40kW Standard Range battery which has a 198-mile WLTP Combined cycle range in the Nissan, trumping the Renault by six miles.
It's the same story with the 52kWh Extended Range alternative — a best of 252 miles in the 5 E-Tech yet 260 miles here in the Micra, with prices starting at £25,495 inclusive of ECG for that version.
Renault 5 E-Tech — from £21,495 with ECG
It's hard to believe one of the coolest-looking EVs is also one of the cheapest but you can indeed buy a Renault 5 E-Tech for a mere £21,495 after it became one of the first models announced to be in receipt of a £1500 ECG discount.
Yes, you'll have to settle for the smaller 40kWh Urban Range battery with the more modestly powerful 120PS motor, but that's comparable with the Citroen e-C3 in terms of performance and a similar range (up to 192 miles), yet the whole Renault package is lot more desirabile.
You can spend a lot more than that, with the range-topping Roland Garros model costing £28,495 inclusive of the grant discount. Somewhere in the middle is the Renault 5 Techno with the bigger 52kWh Comfort Range battery and more powerful 150PS motor — we think it represents the sweet spot of the range and it won't break the bank at £24,495.
Citroen e-C3 Aircross — £21,595 with ECG
If you like the look of the Citroen e-C3 but need a little more practicality, look no further than the Citroen e-C3 Aircross. It's not drastically larger than its little brother but the boot space is much more impressive at 460 litres — that an extra 150 litres.
The combustion-engined Citroen C3 Aircross is available with the option of third-row of seating but before you get excited, the electric version doesn't — the space those extra seats require is already taken by the high-voltage battery.
Regardless, there's still plenty to like here. At £21,595 inclusive of its £1500 ECG discount, the Citroen e-C3 Aircross isn't much more expensive than the e-C3, with little penalty for carrying its extra weight — at 188 miles the Standard Range battery only loses a maximum of 11 miles according to the WLTP Combined cycle. The e-C3 Aircross is also available with the 54kWh Extended Range battery to boost the range to as high as 249 miles.
Vauxhall Frontera Electric — from £22,495 with ECG
Proving that Stellantis is starting to rule the roost in the affordable EV world, here's yet another entry from the car manufacturing giant. The Vauxhall Frontera Electric is based on the same underpinnings as the Citroen e-C3 Aircross with the pair also sharing some body panels. Stellantis has named this small vehicle platform Smart Car, although there's no association between them and the unrelated models sold under the Smart brand.
No surprise to find that the Vauxhall and Citroen have near-identical vital statistics. You can have the Frontera Electric it with either a 44kWh or a 52kWh longer range battery pack — the larger one costs from £25,995 inclusive of its £1500 discount or £28,395 for the best 253-mile range version.
Hyundai Inster — from £23,505
The Hyundai Inster is a likeable and cleverly designed little EV but its inclusion on this list comes with a big caveat. The entry-level Inster 01 might not cost too much more than the others here, but it's not the version we'd recommend buying.
To get to the Hyundai Inster's party-piece sliding and reclining rear bench, together with flat-folding front seats, maximising the tiny Hyundai's practicality, you'll need to go for at least the Inster 02, which costs £26,755. That's a lot for a small car with only a 223-mile range.
In return for your extra cash you do get a more premium-feeling product plus — if it's important to you — we reckon the Hyundai Inster is the cutest car here.
Are the cheapest electric cars proper cars?
Unlike the the Citroen Ami quadricycle, the electric models listed above are 'full' cars, categorised by the DVLA as M1 vehicles . Sure, the Ami is cheaper, but it’s an extremely basic machine, with a tiny range and few creature comforts. That’s a compromise too far for British car buyers, which is why you might want to look at the proper cars on our list.
Do the cheapest electric cars have tiny EV ranges?
Although the Ami isn't designed for venturing the beyond the city limits, the other cheap electric cars should have enough range to handle a typical driver's week's worth of commuting — and maybe even a trip to the coast. Some can be specced with larger battery packs, although doing so will increase the purchase price significantly.
Are the cheapest electric cars safe?
It's a bit of a mixed bag in terms of safety, with a few unknowns. At the time of writing, none of the Citroen, Fiat or Vauxhall models listed had been tested by Euro NCAP, nor had the Leapmotor T03. While the Hyundai Inster and the Renault 5 E-Tech — plus the Nissan Micra via its association with the latter — had achieved satisfactory rather than standout four-star ratings.
Then there's the Dacia Spring, the pre-facelift version of which — a model not sold in the UK — scored just one star in its Euro NCAP test.
The Citroen Ami is classified as a quadricycle and therefore doesn't need to meet the same safety standards as the proper cars here.
