Here are 36 electric cars that can do over 400 miles on one charge

The American-made Aptera pursues aerodynamic efficiency with the singular focus of a bottlenose dolphin hunting a tasty crustacean. Looks like one too. That ultra slippery body helps to achieve a staggering 400 miles of range from a battery smaller than the one found in a Fiat Grande Panda. All they need to do now is build the thing - it’s been endlessly delayed.

The all new Compass arrives imminently, boasting huge electric range and an obligatory greenlane gobbling (not the villain in Spider-man) AWD variant. Real world range when hooning up cliff faces will be less.

Five years old and still one of the coolest EVs you can buy, but you’ll have to spec it very carefully to make your Polestar 2 a 400-mile car: big battery, single motor and don’t be tempted by those delicious optional 20in alloys. You’d be amazed how much big rims can affect an EV’s range.

It’s been discontinued in Europe, but Tesla’s first production model is still going strong in the US, and offers bigger range than ever before. Perhaps most impressive is the fact the unfathomable Plaid still manages 359 miles on a charge despite its four wheels being powered by two active volcanoes.

In terms of what’s available in Europe, the e-5008, equipped with the 97kWh battery (and driven very considerately) is your only electric option if you want to transport seven people over 400 miles without stopping. Provided they are very small, light people.

Polestar’s long-teased Taycan troubler finally touches down early next year. Its range is impressive but its charging speed is even more so, with 10-80 per cent achievable in just 10 minutes at 350kW. We can see ourselves deliberately seeking out slower chargers just to buy more time to ogle its design.

It’s worth noting that North American market cars use the far more stringent EPA range estimation system, as opposed to Europe’s more generous WLTP. That makes the R1T’s 420 miles all the more impressive. A fearsome feat of American engineering, and not too big for European roads. It’s not too late for a RHD model, guys.

In a car offered with up to 1,094bhp, the biggest determining factor of range is not battery size, but your own self-restraint. Drive sufficiently zealously in a hot Taycan and you could likely run out of juice in fewer than 100 miles. Thankfully, you’ll be far too busy getting arrested to care.

Stellantis brands do tend to give it a bit large with their range estimates, meaning the Pugs are among the cars on this list you’d likely have the hardest time actually getting 400 miles out of. Even so, we have a soft spot for the e-3008. It’s an unusually cool and quirky thing, by family SUV standards.

A recent facelift brought improved efficiency and enlarged battery options, boosting the opulent iX beyond that magic 400 mile mark. With so much range, just think how rarely you’ll have to stop, get out and be reminded what it looks like.

The angular eighth generation ES is coming soon and has its sights set firmly on the likes of BMW’s i5. That’s a tough match-up, but the Lexus looks up to the challenge: in RWD guise, it has the Bimmer well beaten for range. And pointiness. 

Not Merc’s best work by any stretch - the EQE’s computer mouse exterior lacks presence and the interior lacks the sense that anyone actually tried living with it before inflicting it upon the world - but the EV underpinnings are excellent. After a shaky start to its electric endeavours, Mercedes is definitely starting to get warmer.

With our sensible hat on and Buzz-tinted specs removed, this is probably the best EV Volkswagen currently sells. Sure, it won’t win any design awards but it’s a masterpiece of aerodynamics, which is why the ID.7 is able to extract 400 miles from its relatively modest 86kWh battery. 

The 97kWh mega battery version of Vauxhall’s large SUV is arriving soon with an impressive quoted range. Saying that, it’ll need to be significantly more efficient than the 73kWh version we drove to get close to that range figure in the real world. And it’ll be heavier. Consider us sceptical.

The lidar forehead bump will have drunk people hailing you down, thinking you’re a taxi, but you’ll quickly get over it. Because Volvo’s first new saloon in over five years is every bit as exquisite as the EX90 SUV we dubbed our luxury family car of the year in 2024, and its more streamlined shape means it goes further too.

Who wants some fanciful concept car stats? The LFA’s spiritual successor manages 435 miles to a charge while also delivering 1,000bhp from its two motors and racing from 0-60mph in less than two seconds. We keep trying to be cynical and then getting distracted by the pictures. 

Audi went big on aerodynamic efficiency for its first electric execu-barge and, more impressively, did so without producing a car that looks like a Mars bar that’s been left on a radiator. Cue much head scratching at Mercedes HQ.

Important note: if North America’s EPA range testing system is the strict mother, and Europe’s WLTP is the laid back dad, China’s CLTC is the chaotic aunt that buys you cigarettes on your twelfth birthday. It’s a test that emphasises urban driving and therefore produces very generous results. Even so, the fact that this flightless jet gets even close to 400 miles in the real world is remarkable. Sure it’s slippery - but it’s also well over 17 feet long. A wonderfully mad thing.

MG’s first attempt at an upmarket saloon isn’t without its missteps - the chassis is ill-equipped to handle the absurd 731bhp erupting from the performance version and the interior has fewer buttons than a dressing gown. But 400+ miles and a sub-£45k price tag are not to be sniffed at.

Merc’s first ever electric GLC arrives imminently with a formidable quoted range of 443 miles. That’s almost one mile for every illuminated square in its gigantic faux grille. You needn’t bother turning your headlights on at night.

Done setting land speed records in your U9 hypercar? Jump into your luxurious U7 saloon and waft home astride a colossal 135kWh battery. Not a brand that does half measures.

Less a conventional car brand, more a collection of mad/genius engineers who happen to sometimes make cars, Lucid has followed up its mesmerising Air saloon with an obligatory SUV sibling - and by all accounts it’s every bit as impressive. Very, very high on the list of brands we wish we got in the UK.

Mustering a measly 2.2 miles per kWh, the Escalade is probably the least efficient car on this list. But a battery pack equivalent to that of five Renault 5s ensures you needn’t care. An electric car that is about as eco-friendly as whaling.

DS’s flagship is everything French luxury cars should be: squashy, interesting and unusual. As mentioned, Stellantis brands do have a bit of a reputation for attaching overly optimistic range claims to their cars, but the lower slung No 8 will certainly get nearer 400 miles than its siblings from Citroen and Vauxhall.

What Tesla may lack in design, indicator stalks and sane leadership it makes up for in battery tech nous. The EV OGs remain among the very best at eking big miles out of a modest battery and, as a result, the updated Model 3 is the UK’s cheapest car capable of 400 miles on a charge.

Meet the new EV from AUDI. No, we’re not shouting, that’s the name of the China-only arm of our garden variety Audi. Frankly, we wish they’d share it - inside and out, it’s a better piece of design than anything we’ve seen from the lower case chaps for a couple of years. 

Another Ultium-derived GM product that takes the less subtle approach to achieving massive range. A 200kWh pack may seem wildly excessive, but keep in mind this is a workhorse with a 5.6 tonne towing capacity. You’ll be grateful for the extra juice when pulling your speedboat along.

The Sierra completes our hat trick of GM electric megatrucks alongside the Silverado and Escalade. They may seem a touch vulgar to European sensibilities, but just remember that compared to their big brother, the Hummer EV, these are frugal, featherweight economy cars.

You might have missed the fact that some actual specs were shared for the 00 concept amid all the incredibly level headed and measured reactions to its design. Jag promises the ability to add 200 miles of charge in just 15 minutes and a whopping 478 mile range. Presumably not achieved through its streamlined design or lightness.

We’ll be honest: while all the cars on this list absolutely could manage 400 miles on a charge, many would require favourable conditions to do so (temperate weather, the driver having had a light lunch etc). We’re now into the ones that really actually can, on a regular basis, in the real world, starting with Merc’s electric S Class alternative. Stick to the city and you’ll see close to 600 miles.

Still not the rangiest Merc on this list, but the rangiest one you can actually buy and, remarkably, the cheapest too. The design won’t work for everyone - it’s got more stars on its nose than a pimply teenager - but the CLA is a marvel of efficiency and deserves huge plaudits.

Dubbed the most important new BMW in over 60 years (their words not ours), much is riding on the success of the new iX3. And you can tell they haven’t messed about. Its all new platform feels two generations ahead of the Munich marque’s current offerings, boasting groundbreaking advancements like cylindrical cells. Which are better because they’re, erm, rounder.

A spellbinding machine that gracefully straddles luxury limo and super-saloon while serving as a welcome reminder that there is a way to design big luxury cars other than spraying their faces with more lights than Carnaby Street at Christmas. A Plaid beats it in a straight line, but the Lucid wins just about everywhere else. Bring it to the UK please.

The slightly peculiar sibling in the Geely family also comprising Lotus, Polestar and Volvo, Zeekr commences its UK conquest in 2026, likely kicking things off with the 7x - a mid-size SUV (shock). Here’s to hoping this sleek shooting brake follows close behind. The headlines? Five hundred miles on a charge and 0-60 in under three seconds. Although presumably not at the same time.

Perhaps you’ve seen the viral clips of the ET7 demonstrating its trick active suspension system, gliding unbothered over a set of uneven speedbumps with a BMW i7 bouncing along behind for comparison. It’s regarded by some as the pinnacle of Chinese automotive engineering thus far - and there are absolutely no plans to bring it to the UK any time soon. Boo.

A study in slipperiness, Merc’s rolling testbed employs every trick in the book in the name of maximising range and invents a bunch of new ones too. Highlights include an active rear diffuser that further elongates the tail at speed and a lightweight, air-cooled battery pack. You need only look at the immense range of the new CLA to see how Mercedes is benefitting from this endeavour.