Top 10 best luxury electric cars 2023

Open gallery Close News by Matt Saunders 14 mins read 17 January 2023 Follow @TheDarkStormy1 Share

It’s a mark of the maturity of electric car technology that there is now a very fast-growing market for premium-branded luxury EVs. It was a segment created a decade ago by Tesla, but plenty of manufacturers are now desperate to be seen to be at the very forefront of it and competition is growing fierce.

Some of those manufacturers are offering a luxury angle, others more of a performance bias, some the capability and convenience of a SUV bodystyle – and some a combination of all of those things. Some cars charting here are big, others not so big. And while some come from established automotive industry powers, others are from newer and more disruptive’ outfits you might not have heard of.

If you’re looking for the some of the longest-legged and most usable electric cars in the world, this chart is where you’ll find them. This is where Teslas do battle with Mercedes EQs, BMW i cars, Audi E-trons, and even new-groove Porsches. If you’ve got a bigger budget to spend on an electrically powered family car to use and rely on for any kind of trip, then, with claimed ranges of up to 400 miles and beyond, these are your main contenders.

Top 10 EVs with the longest rangeTop 10 best electric sports cars 2023Porsche Taycan Turbo S sets Nurburgring record for production EVsPorsche introduces updated infotainment for 2022 modelsNew Porsche Taycan Sport Turismo on sale from £73,560

Best Luxury Electric Cars 2023

1. BMW i7

It’s a measure of the increasing preeminence of EVs that the first version of BMW’s all-new 7 Series flagship to hit showrooms is the all-electric i7. Plug-in hybrids will follow in due course, but in terms of setting the tone for the future (certainly in Europe) and setting out your luxury car stand, then batteries take the lead. Yet perhaps even more significantly for the brand, the all-new seventh generation version of its range-topping saloon is the first to properly hit the luxury car bullseye and prove a real alternative to the otherwise dominant Mercedes S-Class.

One things for certain with this 7 Series – onlookers aren’t going to miss your arrival. This isn’t and elegant or even a particularly aesthetically appealing car, but there’s no doubt the monumentally proportioned i7 attracts attention. Bluff-fronted and slab-sided it visually dominates any slab of tarmac its sits on, but if you’re a plutocrat wanting to flaunt your success the car’s imposing presence will only be a positive. It’s even more impressive inside, although happily this is down to the beautifully crafted finish and jaw-dropping tech rather than any gaudy brashness in the design. Rich materials are used through out, while the slick screens sitting on top of the dash can be accessed using an iDrive rotary controller. For rear set passengers there’s the option of an incredible drop down 31.3-inch screen, which in combination with the Bowers & Wilkins sound system delivers a drive-on rather than drive-thru cinema experience.

Like previous 7 Series models, the i7 is pretty good to drive. At nearly 2800kg it’s no lightweight, while there are smaller cross channel ferries; but thanks to four-wheel steering and all-wheel drive the big BMW feels surprisingly biddable, with accurate steering, precise handling and strong grip. What’s new is the big saloon’s ability to waft and cosset with the best of them thanks to the engineers’ clear decision to focus as much energy into delivering the ultimate soothing machine as much as the ultimate driving machine. In this regard it’s helped by that twin motor set-up that provides 536bhp for ample performance, while a 102kWh battery promises 367 miles between plug sockets, at which point you can charge at up to 195kW for 106 miles of range in just 10 minutes.

Latest Drives

BMW X7 xDrive40d M Sport

Renault Clio E-Tech 2023 first drive

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio 2023 first drive

Polestar 2 Long Range Single Motor RWD 2023 first drive

Peugeot 3008 136 e-DCS6 Hybrid 2023 first drive

View all latest drives

Read our review

Car review

Porsche Taycan Turbo S

Is this 751bhp all-electric Taycan Turbo S a proper Porsche sports car, as its maker claims?

Read our review Back to top

We’ll have to wait until we really test its mettle on UK roads, but for now the i7 could just be the best luxury EV.

2. BMW iX

“A BMW like no other,” is how our man Greg Kable described the iX, the firm’s new all-electric luxury SUV flagship model for its ‘i’ brand. Some critics have used other words to make their feelings plain about the way this car looks and the departure from classic BMW design type that it, and other recent BMW model debutants, represent. Feel free to make up your own if you’re so inclined: this is a car clearly intended to provoke a reaction.

Munich is no stranger to convention-defying exterior design, though; and it has stressed every sinew to make this a landmark electric car, as well as a watershed moment in its transformation from a maker of internal combustion cars to a brand that deals almost exclusively in zero-emissions models. The iX is roughly the size of an X5, but is based on a specialised platform adapted with lightweight composite materials and mixed metals, and is powered by one electric motor per axle.

The entry-level BMW iX xDrive40 version is priced from a whisker under £70,000, and gets 296bhp of power and 249 miles of WLTP-certified electric range. Upgrade to the £92k xDrive50 model, however, and those statistics take sizable jumps: up to 516bhp and 373 miles of range, delivered along with 200kW rapid charging potential. An iX xDriveM60 model is expected to offer even more power and performance in pretty short order: but, even allowing for the lightweight platform, no iX will weigh less than 2.5 tonnes.

It saw off the Mercedes-Benz EQS in a comparison test. The Mercedes is comfortable, but the isolation and sophistication of the iX’s ride is really very special indeed and makes it a particularly compelling luxury car. The BMW also counters the EQS’s wide-eyed futurism with a warmer, more idiosyncratic and less formal flavour, both inside and out.

The iX continued to impress when we put it through our full road test. The car’s combination of generous SUV-level cabin comfort and versatility, and of a genuinely relaxing and understated luxury ambience, with world-class rolling refinement and drivability, instant and effortless performance, and creditable real-world range is one unmatched by any of the market’s other zero-emission SUVs. Even if it doesn’t smash down barriers in terms of outright electric range in the way that some will expect of a top-level EV, the BMW iX has compelling fitness for purpose and a real completeness of appeal as a near-£100,000 luxury car.