Consumer Reports tested around 50 EVs this year to see which ones were the best all-rounders. Only 14 of them made the final list, which includes lots of Korean and German cars and just one Tesla.
This means 36 vehicles didn’t make the cut when they were examined by CR for performance, range, comfort and quality. CR tests all vehicles in the same way, but for EVs, it adds a 70-mph highway range test, which saw some of the cars tested fall short of their claimed EPA range by as much as 50 miles, while others exceeded the advertised range.
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OEMs have caught up to Tesla
It's surprising to see that Consumer Reports didn't include the recently revamped Tesla Model 3 among the best EVs of 2024. Most of the vehicles it picked this year are either from Korea or Germany.
The vehicle with the highest overall score, 84/100, was the BMW iX, which we’ve tested in several flavors (even the base xDrive 40 model) and always found competent and compelling. It was the best luxury electric SUV tested by CR, followed by the Genesis GV60 with a rating of 75, the Lexus RZ with 74 and the Audi Q4 E-Tron and Q8 E-Tron with 71 and 70, respectively.
The second-highest overall rating went to another BMW, the i4, which got a score of 83, putting it ahead of the Porsche Taycan’s score of 76 in the luxury electric car category. The Hyundai Ioniq 6 also got a score of 83, making it the highest-rated mainstream electric car, followed by the Kia Niro EV, whose score was 71.
Another Korean EV, the Kia EV6, was the leader in the two-row SUV category, with a rating of 77. Next came the Tesla Model Y with a score of 72 and the Nissan Ariya and Ford Mustang Mach-E, both of which got a score of 70. The three-row SUV category only had one entrant, the new Kia EV9, which got a score of 78.
The main takeaway from this is that Kia and Hyundai EVs are some of the best choices if you’re looking to go electric right now. These Korean EVs are so good that even one that was not made on a bespoke EV platform, the Kia Niro EV, still made the cut in a segment filled with a wide assortment of talented compact electric crossovers.
BMW also did very well here with one bespoke EV, the iX, which is the closest vehicle in its current lineup to the upcoming Neue Klasse series of EVs, and one repurposed ICE car, the i4. When we tested the i4 back in 2021, we found it remarkably good for what was essentially a 4 Series Gran Coupe with a big battery in the floor, and when we took it to a twisty mountain road, it shrunk around masterfully disguising its over 5,000-pound curb weight.
We weren’t surprised to see the revised Porsche Taycan make the top 14 EVs reviewed by CR this year since the recent refresh enhances what was already one of the best sporty electric cars on the market. The fact that Tesla only had one EV among the chosen 14, and even that didn't get a particularly high score, makes us wonder why CR didn't also include the revised Model 3, which we had very good things to say about after spending a week with the car.
