Which is the most efficient EV? Convoy elimination contest electric cars v a diesel! Cost per mile?

Testing a number of the more efficient EVs

Hyundai Ioniq 28kwh
Hyundai Kona 64kwh
MG4 Trophy 64kwh
Cupra Born 58kwh level 2
Tesla Model 3 standard range LFP
Seat Mii - same a VW e-up or Skoda citigo

The challenge is to see which costs the least per mile to run. Which can travel the most miles on each precious kWh of electricity.

All good electric cars, but which will cost the least for the daily commute or school run? How cheap are they really, compared to modern combustion cars - petrol or diesel…?

I also throw in a modern efficient diesel for good measure. Albeit a bigger car (all I had available) it is usually a very efficient Mercedes estate and gives a good point of comparison. Especially when I break down the journey cost and pence per mile fuel running costs.

Which did/do you think will win?

[georgepelton]

“It’s not how much you accelerate, it is how much you don’t brake.” - Very true. Most people are not aware of this, so good for RSymons to help educate the driving public.

[troyboy]

He's back again, with the team, to show us all the real world EV food, we all need to know, as always matey, top job !

[roseybut]

Excellent video. Thank you to all those who brought their own cars along. If I could afford an EV I'd buy one. Never spent more than 10K on a vehicle in my life (been driving 40 years)

[darrenwalker]

Superb review Richard. Surprised with the mpg of the Merc, but as you say better on longer runs. Definitely home charging is the way to go at night on the cheaper tariff if your lucky enough to have a charger / driveway of course.
The colour of that MG is awesome, great to see so many people taking part in the review.

[DariuszTech]

I bought the MG4 two weeks ago and had MG5 for over a year and sadly they're not the most efficient cars on the market. However when you think about the price it definitely compensates this 😃
Let me give you some figures. On MG5 average from 4k miles was 4.0kwh so far on MG4 is around 3.5kwh
Great review guy's if you want the MG4 for another review I'm happy to help

[therutlandflyer]

Excellent. Very informative and real world test. Thanks to everyone who brought their own cars and took part. Felt sorry for the MG driver - he looked crestfallen to go out on the first round. Can imagine him taking that car home and giving it a sound thrashing with the charging cable

[justinholding]

E-Up! / Mii/ Citigo. Obvious win. It's the most economical EV out there, air cooled battery, light, great regeneration.. same with the ioniq 28. It goes to show that modern tech isn't always the best.. we love our E-Up!

[TeaBreak.]

Travelling on motorways at 68mph, the most overlooked EV, classic Ioniq does 6.2 miles/kWh in the Summer. Kona will do 5.4. BUT having 300+ mile range is a game changer.

[jonathantaylor]

As always, Richard and Team, a fabulously informative, 'real-world' driving comparison - you guys do it SO well...!!
Only slight niggle was that the stats table (my inner-anorak's favourite bit...! 🤓) at the end was partially covered by the MG4 'next video' pop-up and your RSymons roundal icon...

[kek]

In Germany we pay 50cents per kWh. Brilliant!! At that rate the efficiency over the Diesel is basically non existent. So basically 100km at 20kwh cost 10€, 100km at 5 liters Diesel cost 8-9€

[sixtyoned]

We have the Seat Mii sister car the VW e-up so not surprised by the result! Great car and far more practical than we ever expected. Gets used more than our etron and not because it’s cheaper to run - just better at nipping in and out of the city and beyond, easy to park and decent range all year around.

[peterthomson]

Thanks for the great video and to all the folks who contributed to it. I just got my new Ioniq 5 last weekend and have just finished my first full week of commuting with it - a bit of a change from a 15 year-old Astra!. My commute is like your Lap 4 - a 23 mile round-trip mix of some town, some dual carriagway but mostly country A-roads.
I am getting around the 3.9-4.1 mi/kWh mark for the commute so less efficient than the cars in your test, but then it is a big car, and I think the MG4 and Ioniq 5 may well be very close if they both did the Lap 4 run together. My commute includes a fair bit of height gain from one end to the other, and I can clearly see the difference in efficiency between the 'uphill' mornings and the 'downhill' afternoons (also warmer weather in the afternoons?)

This leads me to two questions: firstly, how much difference does the quality of the driver make? You say yourself that you are very experienced in efficient driving techniques, how much difference do you think it would make to the results if you were to swap drivers between vehicles?

Secondly - The Mii, the Ioniq, the Kona and the Tesla have all been around for a few years - the Born is based on the newer ID.3 platform, the MG4 is very newly released. Are newer car designs actually less efficient than older designs? Is this a real trend?

[CarFinanceSimplified]

A really fascinating video Richard. It’s a pity that public charging is now hitting what, 85p / kWh?, but for those of us who are fortunate to be able to charge at home on overnight tariffs, EVs are ridiculously cheap to run with me averaging about 1.3 ppm in my Model 3 LR. GREAT VID!

[andrewoxby]

Hi there, very interesting and I’ve been looking for an electric car since give up my i3 Rex a couple of years ago BUT… I’ve a 2019 BMW 320d, I travel weekly across the Derbyshire Dales across north wales and weekend down the M1 and M42 to Stratford Upon Avon (base in chesterfield). I can’t insert a photo (if I can happy to here how to) and I’m averaging 73.5 mpg on a 90mile run taking 1hr 49min average 52.3 mph on a mixture of road over the Dales and motorways). My electric as at today and (as informed I’m on the best tariff) is 52p per kWh, the price for diesel was this week £1.78, the car cost (6 months ago) £23, 995 from BMW with 16, 000 miles on it. OK the maths, on an average of 60mpg (although I’m getting more) it works out to be £17.99 per 100 miles, electric it works out to be £13.48 per 100 miles based on national average of 34.6 kWh per 100 miles. Which is in keeping with may reviews (I’ve watched many…) so on pure price per mile in this scenario is far cheaper, on a convince level filling up in a few minutes is more convenient, from the purchase of a vehicle and maintenance costs it’s quite a while until I see the return on investment. As I’ve said I’d like to buy electric for many reasons, I loved my i3 but for now, for me the costs (excluding the convenience) just doesn’t stack-up :-(

[MrPikkoz]

It's kinda funny and at the same time sad that the best two EVs here are cancelled and not produced anymore.

[wfdTamar]

Really interesting. Here in Australia people seem to think any EV automatically is good and therefore they have moral or ethical licence to buy the biggest, least efficient one they can get their hands on.

[mikadavies]

Great comparison. Real world test.... Important to spread the "facts".... 👍

[johnthorpe]

great video Richard. very interesting . ive got a Tesla 85D with 227, 000 on the clock would like to see a video on High mileage cars to see how they perform currently

[paulrice]

We have just switched to Octopus Go and get 7.5p per kwh (night time rate). At that rate the seat would cost 1p per mile.

[michaelgoode]

Unless you need 100 mile plus range in the winter it is almost impossible to look past the Ioniq as the all round best package.