Tesla didn't attract nearly half a million reservations for the Model 3 because electric vehicles are lame. Quite the contrary: Instant torque, one-pedal driving, and minimal running costs mean EVs should appeal to even ardent fans of internal combustion. Yet Tesla hasn't closed a significant number of those sales, with many would-be buyers presumably unwilling or unable to spend $45,000 or more for the Model 3 as it is currently offered. With no sign of the promised $35,000 version and Tesla's federal tax credit winding down, perhaps it's time to consider other options.

You won't get Tesla's luxury cachet in the alternatives, which come from mass-market carmakers, ones that sell on price. You won't get much choice, either. Currently there are just two EVs that sticker below $40,000 and boast battery packs large enough to allow driving in excess of 200 miles on a charge, although a third will go on sale soon. The Hyundai Kona Electric arrived early this year and, alongside its gas-powered variants, made our 2019 10Best Trucks and SUVs list. Its starting price of $37,495 matches the Chevrolet Bolt EV's, which was a 10Best car in 2017 before it had any competition. Nissan's Leaf Plus will go on sale shortly, with a more powerful, 215-hp electric motor and a larger, 62.0-kWh battery pack than the standard Leaf carries, allowing it to stretch its range another 76 miles, to 226. Unfortunately, Nissan announced the new model as we were conducting this test.

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The Bolt has changed little since its introduction for the 2017 model year. It pairs a 200-hp motor with a 60.0-kWh lithium-ion battery pack to deliver an EPA-rated 238 miles of range. Our test car was a top-of-the-line Premier, which starts at $41,895, a price inflated by extra chrome, fancier wheels, and heated leather front and rear-outboard seats, among other niceties. Optional equipment—including the crucial $750 DC-fast-charging option, some active safety tech, and upgraded infotainment—added $2125, bringing the cost to an almost Tesla-like $44,130. And although you can still buy a Bolt and receive the maximum $7500 federal tax credit for purchasing a new EV, that amount gets cut in half starting April 1.

Much like the Bolt EV, the Kona Electric uses a 201-hp motor to power its front wheels, although Hyundai's unit makes an extra 24 pound-feet of torque, for a total of 290. Its battery pack is larger, at 64.0 kilowatt-hours, which gives the Kona an EPA range of 258 miles. Hyundai has sold few electric vehicles in the U.S. to date, which means tax credits for its vehicles won't be drying up anytime soon. In fact, supplies of the Kona Electric are likely to be limited for the foreseeable future. As of this writing, it's available only in California, though Hyundai says it plans to begin distribution in Oregon and other CARB-compliant states in the future.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

Our Kona Electric was a range-topping Ultimate model, which came with every bell and whistle, including a few not found on the Bolt, for an estimated $44,000. Notably standard on the Hyundai is DC fast charging, which brings us to the elephant that accompanied us on our trip: charging. While this drive up the California coast was principally a test of two vehicles, it was also a chance to come to grips with the patchwork charging infrastructure that owners of non-Teslas must use.

So let's start there. Third prize is you're fired, which is what should happen to dealership employees who park service vehicles such that they block access to public charging stations. Twice on our trip when we pulled out our smartphones to search for paid public chargers, suitable nearby locations turned up at car dealerships that sell EVs but that did not seem to care whether customers could actually pull up to recharge them. The irony of this negligence in the face of Tesla's secondary crusade, the one against car dealers, was not lost on us. We also encountered another dealership that had its fast charger programmed to shut off after pumping just 20.0 kilowatt-hours of electricity, which is like a gas station that will only let you fill up five gallons at a time.

In four days spent driving between Santa Monica and San Luis Obispo and out to our test track near Lancaster, keeping the cars juiced proved frustrating. A fast charger showed available when we plugged its coordinates into the nav system but was already claimed once we arrived. A 240-volt charger didn't have enough amperage to max out the 7.2-kW onboard charging capacity of our vehicles. Chargers were sometimes hard to find, like one public charger in a private, valet-only lot, with an unhelpful attendant who gave us the stink eye when we plugged in.

One more thing: Tesla Supercharger stations are actually stations, with multiple plugs to charge more than one car at a time, located in well-marked and accessible areas. Most of the fast-charging "stations" we used were single plugs in the back of parking lots. If our experience is any indication, the public charging network might be the biggest drawback to buying a non-Tesla EV.

2nd Place:

Chevrolet Bolt EV

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

Highs: Roomy, comfortable ride.

Lows: Lesser range, tippy handling, tall hatchback styling not to everyone's taste.

Verdict: Groundbreaking a few years ago; now merely competitive.



The set of steak knives goes to the Chevy for multiple reasons, but none so important as—you guessed it—its inferior range. Although EPA estimates for the Bolt EV and Kona Electric give the latter only a 20-mile advantage, during our 600-mile drive, we consistently saw the Hyundai showing an extra 50 miles in its electron tank. Which meant the Bolt took the blame for more frequent stopping and standing around waiting on charging, which we will now stop complaining about for the rest of this story.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

It did give us plenty of time to compare and contrast the looks of the dorky, upright Bolt and the short, squashed-looking Kona. "Like Bert and Ernie," quipped technical editor David Beard. Neither vehicle is going to win any design awards, but the Bolt looks like a cheap econobox hatchback while the Kona looks like a cheap econobox crossover. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but right now the market prefers the latter. So do we.

Inside, the Bolt fares better than the Kona, with a two-tone cabin finish that aspires to more than just commodity-car status. The Kona offers the standard Hyundai treatment, which means nice plastic and all, but nothing special, save for a poorly designed array of shifter push-buttons. The buttons themselves look like they were repurposed from the Genesis side of the business, where they were probably used for something that should be controlled by buttons. The Bolt isn't any better here, relying on GM's new shift-by-wire joystick that tears up 50 years of PRNDL convention for no good reason.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

The two vehicles have nearly identical footprints, but the Bolt has a narrower track and a higher roof. It feels less planted in turns, with more body lean, although its steering is so dead that the first sign you're losing grip is the stability-control light flashing in the dashboard.

The Bolt does deliver a more plush ride than the Kona Electric, with a softer suspension tune that's better at absorbing impacts. But overall comfort in the Chevy is limited by front seats that are too narrow; they also force such a high seating position that we can't imagine any driver wanting to raise the manually adjustable seat (the Hyundai's is powered) from its lowest position. Even our two vertically challenged, sub-six-foot drivers felt like gorillas on bar stools behind the wheel of the Bolt. It's as if Chevrolet engineers, realizing late in development that their electric car should have been a crossover, decided to give the little car the seating position of one. Maybe this is why our Bolt didn't have a sunroof, either.

The most disappointing thing about the Bolt is that even though it was developed as a dedicated EV that does not share its mechanicals with an internal-combustion vehicle, it still seems compromised compared with the Kona. Such is the pace of electric-vehicle development.

1st Place:

Hyundai Kona Electric

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

Highs: Fun to drive, excellent infotainment system, efficient.

Lows: Limited availability, ho-hum interior.

Verdict: The current best of the small group of real-world-viable electric cars.

When it comes to cars with internal-combustion engines, the ones that win C/D comparison tests tend to be those that put up the better numbers. The Kona Electric did just that. It was a bit quicker at the test track, nipping the Chevy by a tenth in both zero-to-60-mph acceleration and through the quarter-mile. On the skidpad, the Kona Electric pulled 0.83 g against the Bolt's 0.80, although we were unable to hustle the Hyundai through our slalom quite as fast as we could the Chevy. The Kona was more efficient during our drive, too, returning 112 MPGe overall, while the Bolt managed only 101 MPGe.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

But as any good salesman will tell you, numbers only keep the boss off your back—you still want to enjoy what you're doing every day. In the Kona Electric, this comes from its adjustable regenerative braking. It allows the driver to cruise effortlessly on the freeway; with adaptive cruise (unavailable on the Bolt) and lane-keeping assist activated and the regen turned down, the ultraquiet Kona floats along like a futurist mobility pod. Then when the road gets more interesting, go ahead and dial up the regen level for nearly one-pedal driving that's a decent simulacrum of a Tesla. The Bolt has a similar system for temporarily increasing the regenerative-braking force by way of a paddle on the left side of the steering wheel, but it proved less effective during the twisty, hilly sections of our route, where it was slow to activate, making the Chevy more difficult to drive smoothly.



The Kona Electric is not just better to drive but easier to live with. It is quieter than the Bolt. It has a lower lift-over height to its rear cargo hold, which is also larger than the Chevy's. Though the Bolt's back seat is more capacious, the Kona can still accommodate four adults in reasonable comfort. Hyundai's infotainment system is su­peri­or to GM's, with a more logical interface and better EV-specific information and controls. Also credit Hyundai for including DC fast charging as standard on Kona Electrics. Chevrolet's decision to sell fast charging as an option is puzzling; the last thing a car company truly committed to electrification should be doing is creating such confusion for the customer.

Speaking of which, limited supply from Korea, where Konas are built, means Hyundai has no plans to sell its EV on dealer lots in the non-CARB-compliant states, although the company has said that individuals will be able to place orders for the Kona Electric through their local Hyundai store. Good luck with that. Some waiting will be involved, so maybe don't cancel that $35,000 Tesla Model 3 res­ervation just yet.

View Photos Jessica Lynn Walker Car and Driver

From the March 2019 issue

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