Cheapest electric cars to insure

It may not be the cheapest new EV, but the BYD Dolphin Surf nevertheless represents great value for money. Its insurance group 14 rating is 11 lower than that of both the less costly Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03, but it feels much more substantial for such a compact, city centric hatchback, not only in terms of its material quality but how competently it drives.

There’s ample space for four adults aboard along with generous levels of standard equipment in the £18,675 Active version, including faux leather seats and a 10.1-inch multimedia touchscreen to access your Android Auto and Apple CarPlay apps.

If there’s a downside to the BYD Dolphin Surf Active it’s that its 30kWh battery is on the small side when it comes to capacity, limiting range to a best figure of 137 miles. You can go further by opting for the mid-range Boost model instead, which can theoretically reach 200 miles courtesy of its 43.2kWh pack, plus it also comes with automatic wipers and heated door mirrors. It costs a chunky £3300 more, though, but the good news is that it’s also in insurance group 14.

Despite being relatively new to the UK market under its own name, Geely is experienced in car-building and owns Lotus, Polestar and Volvo. Despite its unfamiliarity with British buyers, the Geely EX2 is the brand’s third model and marks a significant step into more affordable territory.

Priced from a tenner below £21k, the EX2 Pro has a 35kWh battery providing a claimed 156-mile driving range, yet its equipment roster includes extra-dark-tinted rear windows, electric front seats, a reversing camera and a 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen.

There’s plenty of passenger space for four adults, with a 375-litre boot behind, a further 70 litres of space below the bonnet and a neat drawer instead of a glovebox which swallows another 10 litres of bits and bobs.

Just be aware that if you opt to spend a further £2500 upgrading to the Geely EX2 Max and its 47kWh, 214-mile range battery pack, unlike with its BYD rival above, that does come with an insurance group penalty, nudging it from 14 to a still-low 18.

Determining insurance groups is a mysterious dark art, exemplified rather conveniently by the Citroen e-C3 Aircross. It’s a spacious and super-comfy compact SUV which falls into insurance group 14 if you go for it in Collection trim with the larger Extended Range battery pack at £24,315 after the Electric Car Grant (ECG) discount has been lopped off.

Yet the cheaper by £700 e-C3 Aircross Max with the smaller Standard Range pack, with sees a claimed range of 190 miles as opposed to 249 is in group 15. Not only that, the slightly cheaper, shorter and lower Citroen e-C3 hatchback starts in group 23.

We’d advise not overthinking it and instead soak up the worst of the UK’s roads with the Citroen’s impressively absorbent suspension and sumptuous seats.

If the Citroen e-C3 Aircross’s exterior design and interior layout is a touch or more too radical for your tastes, salvation could potentially be found with the Vauxhall Frontera Electric. As both brands are part of the enormous Stellantis group, they share not only their platforms, motors and batteries, but also some of their body panels — see if you can spot them.

Yet, despite that commonality, the Frontera Electric is less divisive inside and out — in fact, it’s been toned-down to such a degree that it risks being boring. While the two cars feel very similar to drive, the Vauxhall isn’t as outrightly pliant over rough surfaces, feeling a bit firmer — albeit not with a remotely sporty bent.

As with the Citroen, the Vauxhall’s lowest group 14 rating is with the larger Extended Range battery paired with entry-level Design specification with a claimed 248-mile driving range, but the other Frontera Electrics are all in groups 15 and 16.

Curiously, the Vauxhall Frontera Electric is also more expensive to buy than its Citroen twin, with the insurance premium champion version weighing in at £26,795, inclusive of its ECG discount.

Dinky, three-door hatchbacks are quite the rarity these days, but the Fiat 500e is one of two among the cheapest-to-insure EVs. Ranked in group 15 is the cheapest 500e Icon with the titchy 24kWh battery and 95PS of performance priced at £17,245 with its ECG discount taken into account.

Icon trim gets you plenty of kit including climate control, rear parking sensors, automatic wipers and LED lights, but it’s snug in the back for adults and this battery curbs its driving range potential to just 118 miles.

Unless you very rarely venture beyond city limits, that’s going to rule the 500e out for many people, but the Icon trim can also be paired with a 118PS motor that’s fed its energy from a 42kWh battery, expanding its claimed range up to 199 miles.

Downsides? Well, that rangier Fiat costs an additional £3000 and it’s nudged into insurance group 17, which all things considered, still keeps it higher up the list than the next car…

And that next car is the only other three-door city car on this list, the MINI Cooper Electric. Despite being a similar size to the Fiat — so tiny rear seats and a small boot here, too — the MINI’s designed to be used much further afield, hence why even in lower-powered Cooper E guise it still has 184PS and can travel a claimed 186 miles before needing to be plugged in.

In order to get the Cooper Electric in the lowest possible insurance group of 17, unusually you need to go for it in limited edition Monochrome specification at £27,205. As its name implies, once you’ve chosen between white or black paint, the rest of exterior detailing and interior finish is anywhere on a scale from scorched charcoal a night down a 100m-deep well.

If you fancy some colour in your life, the Cooper E Paul Smith Edition — another special version — gives you plenty, although it’s in group 18 and the price shoots up by an eye-widening £5500.

Okay, so what about the cheapest car in the regular line-up, the MINI Cooper E Classic at £26,905. Prepare for some make-it-make-sense pondering as that version’s in insurance group 20. No, we don’t understand it, either.

Enter the undisputed darling among small cars right now, regardless of their source of motive power, the Renault 5 E-Tech. It’s positively bristling with charm and a sense of specialness, tipping its hat to its ancestors stylistically, without being slavish copies of them.

It’s also a pleasant to drive small hatchback, striking an appealing blend of having engaging handling and a comfy ride. Boot space and for those sat up front is generous, but taller adults will find the 5 E-Tech’s rear bench bereft of legroom.

For the cheapest to insure version of the Renault 5 you’ll need to stick with the entry-level Evolution with its 40kWh Urban Range battery, which can drive for 192 miles between charges. Note that while jumping to the 52kWh Comfort Range battery increases the potential to 252 miles, the price jumps £2500 and the insurance group leaps to 22.

Despite not being designed as an EV from the outset, the Ford Puma Gen-E has the same engaging handling that are part of the reason why its combustion-engined siblings are so popular. It feels sporty, but while the ride is firm, it’s not at all harsh.

That said, we’d recommend sticking with the Puma Gen-E in its cheaper Select trim at £26,245 with its ECG discount applied, as it’s 18-inch alloy wheels and tyre combination are more pliant over rougher road surfaces than the dearer Premium version’s 19-inchers are.

Select is generously equipped with front and rear parking sensors, LED lights front and rear, climate control and a 12.0-inch multimedia touchscreen with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity. Wheels aside, the Premium’s additional features are primarily its reversing camera and wireless smartphone charging pad.

Interior space about the Puma Gen-E is fine up front, snug for adults in the back and ginormous for cargo in the boot, which includes the sub-floor, waterproof 145-litre GigaBox and a further 43 litres of storage under the bonnet.

For the lowest insurance group rating of 18 is another argument in the Puma Gen-E Select’s favour as spending the extra £2k on the Premium sees it rise to group 19.

In case you were wondering, no, the Toyota Proace City Verso Electric isn’t really a Toyota at all. It’s a rebadged and lightly restyled version of the Stellantis-made compact range of van-derived MPVs. In other words, with different noses and alternative interior finishes, it’s also sold in the UK as the Citroen e-Berlingo, Peugeot E-Rifter and Vauxhall Combo Life Electric.

So, why buy the not-really-a-Toyota version when each of the others also has the same cavernous and practical cabin and identical 52kWh battery and 136PS electric motor combinations?

Well, not only is the Proace Verso Electric the cheapest of the quartet, with the five-seater Short Icon version chiming in at £30,495 with the ECG discount, it also has the lowest insurance group rating at 18. Again, it’s a mystery as to why the Citroen’s in group 19, the Vauxhall in 21 and the Peugeot in 22.

Aside from that, Toyota also claims a driving range high of 213 miles between charges, which trumps the others, too, but more importantly it comes with a five-year warranty that can be extended to 10 if you have your servicing carried out by a Toyota dealer.

If you like how the Toyota looks, best not to question the insurance thing and just take advantage of the cheaper premium.

Second of what Stellantis internally refers to as its K9 models — and not because of a convoluted analogy linking Doctor Who’s robotic dog to the mind-bendingly spacious Tardis — is the Citroen e-Berlingo.

While the vast majority of its bodywork and interior mouldings are identical to those used on the Toyota above, there’s a touch more playfulness with the colours of the finishes and the Citroen-specific front-end design.

Also identical are the battery packs and 136PS electric motors, in the e-Berlingo’s case giving a highest claimed driving range of 211 miles with the five-seater M (for Medium) body in Collection specification. With the ECG discount subtracted, it costs £30,990, making it around £500 more expensive than its Toyota twin as well as one insurance group higher.

If you’re tempted to spend a further £900 on the e-Berlingo XL with seven seats in the same Collection guise, be aware that the driving range falls to 206 miles while the Citroen’s insurance grouping is nudged to 21.