We can confidently predict that electric vehicles will be far too common on our roads shortly. That future is only possible if necessary investments are channeled to the right people and products. An unfortunate teething problem within the EV space has been the uncontrollable sprouting of startups, some of them fizzling out within just a few years of inception. What’s more discouraging is that such outfits often sink with humongous sums of money in capital investments. On the brighter side, though, these challenges have barely reduced the pace of growth and development in the electric vehicle frontier but rather helped to highlight what works and what doesn't.
More new EV companies are mushrooming around the globe every day and incredible effort is going into research and development. Most of the moneyed conglomerates have already made impressive progress into EV products. With the backup of healthy balance sheets, nearly all mainstream automakers now have an electric car or two in the market or at advanced stages of completion.
In the same breath, we have companies that are little known but continue to disrupt the market. On this list, we delve into some EV cars built by companies whose names won’t necessarily ring a bell at the first mention.
8 DS Automobiles E-Tense
DS Automobiles is a French manufacturer of luxury vehicles and a subsidiary of Citroen that branched out to become a standalone outfit in 2015. In 2018, the company announced that it would go completely into electric and hybrid vehicles by 2025. Their foray into the EV market is the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense. It’s agreeably a mouthful of a name that hopefully brings around an equally fulfilling product.
This EV makes a good attempt at being distinct inside-out. The outstanding features begin with an unmistakable large grille. It gets curvaceous as you move towards the rear and the fin shark design on the side panels makes things more distinct. The DS E-Tense seems ready to rock the streets in its own style and lovers of sporty EVs will be charmed.
7 Lucid Air
Built to rival the Tesla Model S, the Lucid Air is the electric car market's newest breakthrough. Everything about the model scrams "modern" and advanced, as does its impressive performance. The upcoming electric sedan is said to offer 517 miles of range on a single charge.
The interior is also arguably a much nicer place to be than that of a Tesla, wrapped in materials ranging from vegan leather to soft yarn, the Lucid Air's cabin features a massive 34-inch infotainment display and smaller touch-screen control display located beneath it in the center console. Powering the whole car is a ridiculous 1080-horsepower engine said to rocket the large sedan to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds. Beat that, Tesla!
6 NIO EP9
Six years doesn’t sound like enough time for a company to build a lasting impression unless they are doing something really unique. But that’s what Chinese EV maker NIO has done. From its inception in 2014, the company grew quickly, operating in 13 countries by 2017.
The EP9 is a prototype EV venturing further into the world of autonomous driving. The all-wheel-drive two-seater car promises 1360 hp. Accelerating from 0-60 mph in 2.7 secs, it hits a top speed of 194 mph. NextEV says that the EP9 prototype has already recorded a 6 min 45 sec lap time at the Nürburgring. The company reported delivering over 6,000 vehicles in May 2021. NIO is also building vehicle charging solutions among other EV products.
5 Canoo Microbus
Based in Los Angeles, Canoo is teasing an EV microbus that looks like a van and is audaciously outrageous, but also gorgeous. The company is confident that it will bring the Canoo EV on the roads by 2022 with the base price mentioned at $34,750 before tax incentives or add-ons. Make your bookings by depositing $100, they say.
Canoo has two more EVs in the pipeline slated to come around beginning early 2023. One of them is a pickup truck that is meant to take on the Ford and Rivian competitors that have primed on size and power to leverage the market. Canoo was founded as Evelozcity back in 2017 and has undergone considerable transformation in this period.
4 Faraday Future
Faraday Future had positioned to take on Tesla unapologetically with its groundbreaking FF91 crossover. The California EV startup was ambitious as it launched the FF91 at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2017. Several years down the line, not much has been achieved, as the executives abandoned it, including the Founder and CEO Jia Yueting, a Chinese billionaire who filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
There is now a breath of fresh expectations. The company started trading at the Nasdaq in July 2021 after completing its merger with Properties Solutions Acquisition Corporation, which injected $1 billion into the automaker’s balance sheet. The FF91 looks very promising in design as well as the interior components so far displayed. Importantly, we would hope that the company delivers its promises to the end.
3 Cupra el-Born
Spanish automaker Cupra formerly traded as SEAT, whose parent company is Volkswagen Group. The Cupra el-Born is the company’s first production. The specs demonstrated are competitive and exciting for any EV enthusiast. Single charge will drive you for 335 miles while producing 231hp from an option of three batteries.
The Cupra el-Born looks nothing but gorgeous from front to end. If the same design cues are maintained for production, then this is geared to be one of the most curvacious and good-looking EVs on the road. It’s intimated that the interior borrows significantly from the Volkswagen ID3, just as they share similar electrical components. This is indisputably one of the cars that any lover of EVs should keenly wait for.
2 Dacia Spring
Romania automaker Dacia is building a small car positioned as Europe’s most affordable EV. Dubbed the Dacia Spring, the 3.7 meters long EV produces a considerably low output at only 44bhp from a 27.4kWh battery that is less than one tonne in weight. With these specs, the Dacia Spring is poised for 143 miles between charges. The car has been on sale since June 2021 and aims to explore more markets, including the UK.
Dacia prides itself on a significantly large space inside the spring. The rear seats are large enough for two adults, although most other functionalities are kept at the bare minimum. It’s precisely a small and practical EV for ordinary rides.
1 VinFast LUX
Vietnam is home to the VinFast, an EV that has grabbed global attention as it promises to plunge into five new markets in early 2022. VinFast is a project of VinFast Auto Canada, a subsidiary of Vietnamese multinational Vingroup.
The company has taken a foresighted approach, hiring a Tesla veteran to help launch its operations in a number of Western countries. It’s also working with several battery and component makers. Company CEO Thanh Hai said that they, “manufactured it as a product enabling customers to directly compare with gasoline cars.” Such are the products that industry observers wait in baited breathe.