Best electric SUVs for 2026: Driven and tested in our lab

The very best electric SUVs offer a high driving position and plenty of interior space, as well as efficient, zero-emissions motoring. 

They’re available at a wide range of sizes – from compact family crossovers to full-sized 4x4s. 

But not all electric SUVs are created equal; while the joys of fast acceleration and quiet driving are near-universal across EVs, there are some that fail at the basics with poor safety kit, inefficient motors and a noisy and bumpy ride. 

Below we’ve listed the very best electric SUVs including compact, medium-sized and large models. Then, after our recommendations, we provide our expert buying advice on what to look for when shopping around. 

Not sure whether you're ready to go electric? See our guide to the very best small SUVs and large SUVs across all fuel types.

Best electric SUVs

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Best electric cars: big or small, see all the EVs that aced our lab tests

What to look for when choosing an electric SUV

Here's a brief summary of our top five things to think about when choosing an electric SUV. 

1. Range: Electric SUVs aren’t usually particularly efficient, so check battery size and our efficiency test results carefully.
2. Interior space: Some coupé-style SUVs sacrifice rear headroom – always test for comfort, especially with tall passengers.
3. Visibility issues: Larger SUVs can have poor rear visibility due to thick pillars, long bodies, and bulky headrests.
4. Parking tech: Look for essential aids like rear cameras, parking sensors, and automatic reversing brakes.
5. Extra safety features: Front cameras and blind-spot warnings can make driving large SUVs less stressful to drive in town

The first thing that will likely come to mind when buying electric is range. We go into more detail below but, in short, SUVs are not the most efficient way to get around (particularly when looking at medium and large SUVs), so you should really pay attention to battery capacity options and our efficiency test results.

Elsewhere, while you’d expect an SUV to offer loads of room inside, some coupé-shaped models will have sloping rooflines at the rear that can dramatically impact headroom for back-seat passengers. It pays to read our reviews (we always say what height of person will fit comfortably in the front and back of a car) and physically try the car for yourself if you can, and take along a tall passenger.

A problem that isn’t just reserved for electric SUVs is that larger models tend to have poorer visibility, particularly at the rear. Some SUVs will have a lot of bodywork that extends past the rear axle, making it hard to judge whether you’ll fit into a parking space, and very wide roof pillars are extremely common, as are large, immovable headrests. Modern parking tech helps with this, but make sure the model you’re buying actually comes with it. 

A rear parking camera is all but essential, as are parking sensors and, in some higher-end models, automatic reversing collision prevention where the car applies the brakes if you’re about to reverse into an object or person. You’ll sometimes get front-mounted cameras so you can see objects hidden by the high, long bonnet of your SUV and blind-spot warnings when you activate the indicators.

Wondering about other safety kit? Read our guide on everything you need to know about car safety features.

Electric SUV range: What you need to know

On the face of it, the electric SUV range doesn’t look too bad, but when you look more closely you see that many electric SUVs suffer from the same inefficiencies as their internal combustion equivalents. 

In our tests, on average, electric SUVs can go  around 240 miles on a single charge, which is around the same as the average for EVs of all classes.  More specifically, small SUVs manage closer to 210 miles while large ones can do an impressive 260 miles on average. See our guide to the cars with the best EV range for more on this.

This isn’t to say that large SUVs are now the go-to choice for green aficionados; it’s more a case of brute force. With their larger size, big SUVs have more room for high-capacity batteries. On average, large SUVs have a battery capacity of more than 80kWh compared to the average 69kWh on all types of EV. These large batteries make SUVs much heavier, often weighing well over two tonnes. This is something to consider if your local council is considering changing parking charges based on vehicle weight.

Find out more about how much it costs to charge an EV in our EV charging guide

Based on our combination of real-world and lab-controlled testing, we’ve found that medium/large SUVs are the among  the least efficient classes of EV you can buy. They manage on average around 2.8 miles per kWh of energy, compared to 3.2 miles per kWh from a medium-sized electric car or 3.6 miles per kWh for an electric city car. That’s an efficiency sacrifice of 12% and 22% respectively, which directly translates to increased running costs over time especially if you can’t charge at home (where electricity is cheaper) or frequently charge at expensive rapid chargers at service stations on long journeys.

Of course there are exceptions; one of the most efficient SUV we’ve tested manages 4.01 miles per kWh, which is well above average, while the least efficient manages a paltry 2.3 miles per kWh.

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Can electric SUVs tow caravans and trailers?

It almost goes without saying, but if towing is important for you, make sure that the car you’re looking at can actually be used for towing (our reviews state the towing capacity of the specific motor/battery combination we tested, but this will vary if the model you're looking at is different). Many electric cars can’t tow at all. 

Most new large electric SUVs can tow, but the type of load varies wildly, with some only rated for towing a 750kg braked trailer (where the trailer has its own brakes that are connected to the towing car), while others can manage up to 2,500kg. The most common braked tow load for a medium/large SUV is 1,000kg, while unbraked loads are usually 750kg (the legal limit in the UK) but occasionally less.

Smaller electric SUVs are more variable: a fair few can't tow at all, some can only tow as little as 300kg braked or unbraked, and the highest braked towing capacity we’ve tested on a small SUV is 1,600kg. 

Also keep in mind that in many cases you may only be able to use tow hitches from the car’s manufacturer (or approved third parties) and in some cases you might only be able to choose to have a towing hitch at the time you purchase as they sometimes can’t be added later. 

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We test electric SUVs more thoroughly than anyone else

Our tests go further than those carried out by other organisations and, because Which? is independent, you can trust our reviews to give you the full, honest and impartial truth about every car we test. 

Every car we review is subjected to more than 300 individual tests in a lab, on a test track and on real roads, allowing us to report accurate miles-per-gallon figures that you can rely on. We also include a motorway test – something that official tests don't cover. 

Testing in controlled lab conditions means the results we collect are directly comparable between different cars, helping us determine which models are better so you can find the perfect vehicle for your needs. 

And so you know which models are likely to prove reliable for years to come, we also gather feedback from thousands of UK car owners through the annual Which? car survey and use it to generate detailed reliability ratings for the cars we test. 

To find out more, head to our article on how we test cars, and our guide to the most reliable cars and most reliable car brands.