Whether or not you usually drive on filth roads or simply have a steep driveway, floor clearance might be an vital issue when buying a car. Electrical autos are not any totally different in that regard, though there are some extra issues to bear in mind.
Electrical variations of some fashions have much less floor clearance than their equal combustion variations. Within the worst case I’m conscious of, an electrical XC40 Recharge (181 mm) loses 30 mm of floor clearance in comparison with a petroleum XC40 (211 mm). That is because of the battery pack being situated beneath the chassis between the 2 axles.
Driving on filth roads in an electrical car is usually secure as a result of producers make sure the battery pack is nicely shielded with a number of layers of safety. For instance, after two fires occurred in Tesla Mannequin S autos over ten years in the past, Tesla subsequently added extra protecting layers to their new vehicles to make them even safer.
Fellow contributor Bryce Gaton answered a reader query on this subject a yr in the past: Are there any excessive floor clearance passenger car EVs but? Nevertheless, a number of new electrical autos have arrived since Bryce’s reply and there are extra coming with excessive floor clearance.
The bottom clearance knowledge beneath has been sourced from the Australian Authorities’s ROVER listing of highway car kind approvals wherever attainable.
I picked the very best floor clearance for a mannequin the place it differs between variants, for instance sportier variants usually have 5-10 mm lower than their common variants because of lowered suspension or totally different wheels.
There are additionally two autos additional down the listing which might be able to rising above the Subaru Solterra and Toyota bZ4X. The upcoming Porsche Macan EV has non-obligatory air suspension which may increase floor clearance to a most peak of 225 mm. A second hand Tesla Mannequin X may also use its air suspension to lift itself as much as 223 mm on the very best setting.
Right here is the total listing of passenger electrical autos accessible in Australia from our EV Fashions web page, sorted by floor clearance from prime to backside.
Subaru Solterra – 212mm
Toyota bZ4X (coming quickly) – 212mm
Mercedes-Benz EQB – 210mm
Mercedes-Benz EQA – 209mm
Volvo EX90 (coming quickly) – 205mm
Polestar 3 (coming quickly) – 201mm
Jeep Avenger (coming quickly) – 200mm
Peugeot e-2008 – 196mm
Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV – 192mm
LDV eT60 Ute – 187mm
Skoda Enyaq (coming quickly) – 186mm
Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV – 184mm
Porsche Macan (coming quickly) – 184mm (max 225 mm with air suspension)
Volvo XC40 Recharge – 181mm
Audi This autumn e-tron (coming quickly) – 180mm
BMW iX – 180mm
BMW iX3 – 179mm
Kia EV9 – 177mm
Volvo C40 Recharge – 177mm
Volvo EX30 – 177mm
Genesis GV70 – 175mm
Volkswagen ID.4 (coming quickly) – 173mm
Ford Mustang Mach-E – 172mm
Audi e-tron S – 171mm
Tesla Mannequin X (second hand) – 171mm (max 223 mm with air suspension)
BMW iX1 – 170mm
BMW iX2 – 167mm
Tesla Mannequin Y – 167mm
Polestar 4 (coming quickly) – 166mm
Ford Puma BEV (coming quickly) – 164mm (determine based mostly on petrol model)
Volkswagen ID.5 (coming quickly) – 163mm
Peugeot e-308 (coming quickly) – 162mm (determine based mostly on PHEV model)
MG ZS EV – 161mm
Audi Q8 e-tron – 160mm
Genesis GV60 – 160mm
Hyundai Ioniq 5 – 160mm
Kia EV5 (coming quickly) – 160mm (finest guess, no official figures)
Kia EV6 – 160mm
Volkswagen ID.Buzz (coming quickly) – 159mm
Hyundai Kona Electrical – 158mm
MG MG4 – 158mm (with 18 inch wheels)
Lexus RZ 450e – 156mm
Nissan Leaf – 155mm
Polestar 2 – 151mm
BYD Atto 3 – 150mm
Hyundai IONIQ Electrical (second hand) – 150mm
Kia Niro EV – 150mm
LDV Mifa 9 – 150mm
Mitsubishi i-MiEV (second hand) – 150mm
Mini Countryman E – 149mm (determine based mostly on petrol model)
BMW i5 – 146mm
Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo – 146mm
Rolls Royce Spectre (coming quickly) – 146mm
Chery Omada 5 (coming quickly) – 145mm (determine based mostly on petrol model)
GWM Ora – 145mm
Mercedes-Benz EQC – 145mm
Jaguar I-Tempo – 142mm
Lexus UX300e – 142mm
Hyundai Ioniq 6 – 141mm
BMW i3 (second hand) – 140mm
Genesis G80 – 140mm
Mercedes-Benz EQS – 139mm
Tesla Mannequin 3 – 138mm
BMW i7 – 136mm
Mazda MX-30 – 135mm
Tesla Mannequin S (second hand) – 135mm (max 160 mm with air suspension)
Peugeot e-208 (coming quickly) – 134mm
Mercedes-Benz EQV – 133mm
Cupra Born – 131mm
BYD Dolphin – 130mm
Fiat 500e – 130mm
Mercedes-Benz EQE – 130mm
Mini Cooper SE – 128mm
Renault Megane E-Tech – 128mm
Porsche Taycan – 127mm
BMW i4 – 125mm
BYD Seal – 120mm
Renault Zoe (second hand) – 120mm
Audi e-tron GT – 105mm
Tim has 20 years expertise within the IT trade together with 14 years as a community engineer and website reliability engineer at Google Australia. He’s an EV and renewable vitality fanatic who’s most keen about serving to folks perceive and undertake these applied sciences.