Car of the Year Awards 2021: Best Small electric car for value

This class embraces nimble city cars and handy small cars and continues onwards to encompass everything up to and including family-sized SUVs no more than 4.5 metres long...

Search our Target Prices and you’ll discover that the Renault Zoe is one of the cheapest EVs to buy – outright or on PCP finance. But this small hatchback demonstrates its value in other ways too, by being a good all-rounder in terms of practicality and range. This means you can conceivably use it as your only car, not just a limited-use second car. After all, forking out for a support vehicle rather defeats the value proposition.

The Zoe fended off newcomers such as the Mazda MX-30 family SUV because it’ll officially do 239 miles on a full charge – one of the best ranges for the money. In comparison, the MX-30 can manage just 124 miles. That means you can use the Zoe to visit Aunt Doris, who lives two counties away, without an arduous journey involving several stops to recharge.

Renault Zoe 2022 interior dashboard

It’s also small enough to use in town and practical enough to allow you to take the kids to school and throw all the shopping in the boot. We’d definitely urge you to add automatic emergency braking (£150) to our recommended Iconic trim, though.

For all the latest reviews, advice and new car deals, sign up to the What Car? newsletter here

Read about more Car of the Year 2021 winners >>