After spending roughly three-quarters of a million dollars on nine electric cars for long-term testing purposes, our friends at Edmunds put together a list of EVs that they would buy again after driving them for several tens of thousands of miles.
That said, some of the cars in the publication’s fleet didn’t make the list, with a couple of obvious choices and one that’s quite surprising. So here’s what the folks at Edmunds have to say about their extensive EV fleet–with the good and the bad.
Get Fully Charged
Quality issues get better with time
Some companies have had a hard time figuring out the ins and outs of making a likable electric vehicle. This holds true for both newcomers like Rivian and Lucid, but also for heavy-weights like Tesla and Chevrolet. The good news, however, is that most automakers are fixing the issues as they go, making small improvements that make a car much more enjoyable to drive years after it has been launched.
The list includes the following cars: 2024 Tesla Model 3, 2020 Tesla Model Y, 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E, 2022 Rivian R1T, 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, 2024 BMW i5 M60, 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, 2022 Lucid Air and 2023 Fisker Ocean.
We’ll start with the problem children, the most expensive and surprising of which is the Lucid Air. Retailing for roughly $140,000, the 2022 Air GT trim in the Edmunds fleet is an early unit that, while offering a very generous driving range of over 500 miles and an improving software experience, failed to deliver on the interior build quality promise.
For such an expensive car, Edmunds said that there are too many rattles and quality issues to recommend the 2022 Lucid Air but that newer models could get the thumbs up because most of the early problems have been resolved.
Next in line is the Chevy Blazer EV in RS AWD trim, which would not be bought a second time by Edmunds simply because of the reliability issues that plagued the electric crossover since day one. The outlet said that the car was driveable for about one and a half months out of the roughly four months of ownership.
The last of the EVs that are not recommended by Edmunds is the Fisker Ocean Extreme. The publication had problems with its Ocean Extreme since day one, like a Christmas tree-like instrument cluster at startup and several other software-related issues. Furthermore, Fisker the company recently filed for bankruptcy, making ownership an experience filled with more questions than answers. Some of the issues were fixed through software updates, like the non-functioning key fob, but the experience is still far from perfect.
Now for the EVs that the Edmunds staff would like to buy a second time. The first is the new and improved 2024 Tesla Model 3, which offers a much better build quality and a better ride quality than the retired model. However, the lack of a physical gear selector and indicator stalk might still throw some people off.
Staying in the Tesla playground, the extremely popular Tesla Model Y also got a thumbs up from Edmunds, but only for a new car that has an improved ride. The 2020 model that’s in the publication’s fleet would not get a second run because of the terrible ride quality that has since been improved on newer cars.
One of the biggest rivals to the Model Y, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, would also get a second try if the occasion arose. The single-motor, long-range version in Edmunds’s fleet was trouble-free and it just worked every time, although the charging speeds weren’t very high.
The adventure-ready quad-motor Rivian R1T is another EV that got the nod, being very reliable, apart from the powered tonneau cover that was an issue on most if not all R1Ts before being redesigned last year.
The best-selling electric pickup in the United States, the Ford F-150 Lightning, is another EV recommended by Edmunds. In this case, we’re talking about the Lariat, dual-motor extended range model. The publication described it as “a truck with no compromises, a truck that also happens to be an EV.”
That said, it doesn’t charge very fast and it does lose a bunch of range when towing, but reliability-wise it’s been great for the Edmunds staff. "No gimmicks, it just gets the work done," the writers said.
The brand-new BMW i5 M60 is also on the list, but it hasn’t been a part of the fleet for long enough to prompt an answer to the question “Would you buy it a second time?” However, the first impressions are good, and we’re curious to see how Germany’s answer to the Tesla Model S and Lucid Air will fare in the long run.
In the meantime, go ahead and watch the video embedded at the top of this page and then let us know what you think in the comments below.
