Here are five great electric cars with truly terrible range

How can you not love the Honda e? Well, you might not if you’ve got a cross-country mission to complete. This supremely cute little city car started its life as the brilliant 2017 Urban EV Concept, and when Honda eventually revealed the production car at the Geneva Motor Show in 2019, we were impressed. The squat little retro-futuristic look remained, and with rear-wheel drive and Honda build quality it looked like being a recipe for success.

Then they gave it a comically small battery (Honda claimed 35.5kWh total, but the usable capacity was more like 28.5kWh) and a ludicrously ambitious £26k+ price tag. You could pay even more for the top spec Advance trim too, although that came with an 18bhp power boost and larger 17in wheels, so the range dropped even further to 125 miles on the WLTP cycle. In the real world you were lucky to ever see over 100 miles, particularly because it drove so well you never wanted to go full hypermiler. Shame.

Mazda’s first foray into the world of electric cars came in 2020, when production of the MX-30 began at its Ujina plant in Hiroshima. And yeah, you could tell that its heart wasn’t really in it.

That’s not to say the MX-30 wasn’t interesting. Mazda gave this little crossover rear-hinged back doors like the RX8 and a stylish interior full of environmentally friendly recycled materials. Lovely place to sit while charging, but unfortunately you’d be doing that rather a lot if you bought one, because its battery was exactly the same size as the Honda e’s. The claimed WLTP range was just 124 miles, which probably explains why Mazda then re-engineered the car to take a rotary-engined range extender in 2023. You can no longer buy the full EV in the UK.

Dacia gave its bargain basement EV another update in October 2025, swapping out the motors for more powerful versions and changing the battery chemistry to lithium-iron phosphate. That was despite the fact it was only facelifted in February 2024 when it first came to the UK.

Interestingly, Dacia saw no reason to up the range with its new 2025-spec battery, so the little Spring will still only do 140 miles on a full charge. Hey ho. It’s lightweight, low cost and we love it. Just make sure you never need to leave the city limits.

With its most recent generation, Mini dropped the Hatch tag and switched Cooper from a trim level to the actual model name. Only slightly confusing.

And yet, in both petrol and all-electric forms the current Cooper retains that classic Mini character. It’s slightly bigger than before and the ride is fairly firm, but it’s huge fun to drive and still looks loveable. Just remember to tick the box for SE trim on the configurator though, because while that gets a 49.2kWh battery for 247 miles of range, the entry level E makes do with a 36.6kWh unit and 179 miles on a charge.

Another little city car that deploys a teeny tiny battery is the entry level version of the fashionable Fiat 500e. Its 24kWh unit provides a WLTP range of just 118 miles, which would be just enough to get you from London to Birmingham on a single charge. That’s assuming you’re able to hit the claimed range of course, which is essentially like assuming a village cricketer would be able to hit Jofra Archer for six. Not going to happen.