Electrical Storm

BATTERIES HAVE POWERED THREE PREVIOUS COTY WINNERS. COULD AN EV FROM THIS GROUP MAKE IT FOUR?

- JEZ SPINKS

AUSTRALIANS MAY not yet be switching from pumps to plugs en masse, but exponential growth has shifted electric-car sales out of niche territory.

Even against a backdrop of limited charging infrastructure and a dearth of truly affordable options, more than 33,000 electric cars were sold last year - a 550 percent annual increase that would be more staggering without the caveat of Tesla sales being counted officially for the first time.

Three in every five EVs sold in 2022 was either a Model 3 sedan or Model Y SUV, and the latter is represented here as one of our favourite new electric cars from the past 12 months.

It's a potential COTY dark horse considering the Model 3 was a 2020 finalist.

Reflecting the diverse offerings in this segment, the rest of our Best New EVs quintet - not including the BMW i4 that was sadly unavailable - covers a $200K cost spectrum.

Constructing our hopes for attainable electric motoring is the Atto 3 from China's Build Your Dreams (BYD), an SUV that, in base form at the very least, will give buyers some meaningful change back from $50,000.

The top end features Audi's twin to the Porsche Taycan, the RS E-Tron GT, while the middle ground is occupied by two models that can be considered direct rivals to the Model Y: Volvo's coupe-style sibling to the XC40, the C40 Recharge, and the GV60 that is the first EV-only model from Hyundai luxury arm Genesis (and a cousin to the Ioniq 5 and EV6).

Some similar in concept, some very different - but a common theme was that none failed spectacularly when our COTY judges sat around on the first 'Contender Presentations' day to assess each EV against the Value criterion.

The Atto 3 and Model Y stood out especially. In each case, you're getting a fair amount of SUV metal for your outlay.

The 4.46m BYD verges on being a mid-sizer; the 4.75m Tesla straddles medium/large categorisations.