New Top Gear magazine on sale now: it’s the Electric Awards!

At which point do the Top Gear Electric Awards become… the Top Gear Awards? It’s a question we’re asked often, and a fair one. When we kicked off this idea of celebrating the world’s best EVs back in 2019 (in fact, that was just ‘The Electric Issue’, the first EV Awards came a year later in May 2020, but we’ll gloss over that) there were far fewer electric, or electrified cars around.

We made the boundaries clear – a car had to be pure or a significant part electric to qualify for the EV Awards, but everything would be eligible for the main TG Awards at the end of the year. However, in that one we’d do away with any electric-specific categories, forcing electric and combustion cars to fight it out on a level playing field.

The electric car landscape has changed beyond recognition in the past five years, but we’re still far from the point where petrol (774k sold in the UK in 2023), diesel (72k) and mild hybrids (362k) are being outsold by pure electric (315k) and plug-in hybrid models (141k). Solid grounds for keeping the EV Awards fenced off for a little while longer.

What we’re seeing though is a shift from experimental, toe-in-the-water EV launches, to major model replacements with electric successors. Take the new Porsche Macan EV... in fact, I shouldn’t say EV at all, it’s just the new Macan that happens to be battery powered and brilliant. Similarly, former combustion stalwarts like the Mini Cooper, Merc G-Wagen and Renault Scenic are all embracing an EV future and making it work for them.

That’s not to say EV experimentation is dead – the MG Cyberster, which will go up against the electric Porsche Boxster and against headwinds of low demand for two-seat roadsters full stop (let alone one with a side order of range anxiety) is a loopy allocation of company funds. And yet, it works, and could be the car to invigorate the market.

Meanwhile, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N is going racing, the Dacia Spring is an electric car for the price of a Pot Noodle and the Volvo EX30 is good at just about everything, apart from its allergy to buttons. And then there’s the Tesla Cybertruck, not sure how to describe that, all we know is we had seen enough parading about and it was time to find how much punishment it could handle. Fasten your seatbelts and prepare for takeoff.

As you might have guessed, all of those cars saw success in the Electric Awards 2024, but what actually secured them their gongs and what else joins them in the winners’ enclosure? For the full stories you’ll have to pick up a copy of the latest issue of Top Gear magazine. All you need to do is click these blue words to order a copy and have it delivered direct to your door. Or perhaps you’d like even more from TG? You can start a subscription today and get three issues for just £3, then pay just £19.99 for every six issues after that. Click here to take advantage.