10 electric car brands coming to the UK you've probably never heard of (2024)

The new car market is going to look very different in the coming years with a raft of new and improved electric vehicles launched between now and the 2030 ban on sales of new petrol and diesel motors.

But it won't just be the cars that are different - the brands that make them will too.

Motor firms you have probably never heard of have already committed to enter the UK market while others have hinted at plans to break into Britain.

Here's ten incoming car marques you need to get to know...

A recent poll of 821 in-market car buyers - those already perusing manufacturer websites and poking around dealer showrooms - found that less than one in 10 knew about a host of newcomers that are set to enter the market in the coming years.

What Car? said a host of new brands, primarily delivering electric vehicles are not yet on Britons' radars. This includes the likes of Fisker and Lynk & Co that are due to setup shop in the UK within months.

Even Polestar, the electric Volvo spin-off that's been around for the last couple of years, is still relatively little known, with only 41 per cent of respondents aware of the brand.

While the survey found that a third (32 per cent) would prefer to buy an electric car from a traditional car company that's been around for years - say Ford, Vauxhall and VW for example - rather than one of these newcomers, 63 per cent said they'd have no issue ditching mainstream makes, as long as the product is good.

Steve Huntingford, editor at What Car?, said the influx of new electric vehicle brands is 'positive for the industry' and will 'give buyers a wider choice of models and challenging existing manufacturers, which should increase the rate of technological development'.

However, he warned: 'Brand awareness will, however, be a key challenge for many.'

To help with this brand awareness, here's a rundown of 10 companies you need to keep an eye out for - and when they could be selling electric vehicles to UK customers.

Rimac

Nationality: Croatia

Coming to Britain:On sale now (though in limited numbers)

Okay, this isn't one to challenge the mainstream car brands, but rather take the fight to the likes of Lamborghini, McLaren and Ferrari.

The exclusive Croatian car brand now sells the Nevera electric hypercar in Britain via high-end dealer HR Owen London since 2021.

The figures are mighty impressive. It possesses 1,888bhp and is powered by the combination of a 1.4-megawatt lithium-manganese-nickel battery linked to from four electric motors. This is good for a 0-to-60mph sprint in a mere 1.85 seconds. It will hit 100mph from a standing start in just 4.3 seconds and currently holds the world record quarter-mile time for a production vehicle, clocking the distance in 8.582 seconds in which it hit a top speed of 167.5mph.

Company founder and CEO Mate Rimac says it will do 258mph flat out.

Only 150 Neveras have been made, each costing around £2million each with taxes.

Ora (Great Wall)

Nationality: China

Coming to Britain:September 2022

Great Wall is one of the expanding automotive groups from China that is set to bring its debut product to the UK market in 2022 - and it has a pretty special name.

It's from its Ora brand and is called the Funky Cat. The compact electric hatchback will go on sale around September this year with prices for 'First Edition' examples starting from £31,995.

Ahead of order books opening, Ora UK says it has received 6,000 'expressions of interest' from drivers in Britain and added that first deliveries of the fully-electric carts should begin before the end of the year and additional models will come in 2023.

First Edition examples will have a48kWh battery offering an official range up to 193 miles and be compatible with 80kW charging devices meaning they can be charged to 80 per cent capacity in around 50 minutes. A 63kWh battery model with a range of up to 261 miles is also rumoured for next year.

The UK side of the business is said to be trying to establish a nationwide network of retailers that will scale up as the brand grows. In the meantime, customers can order via its website - a feature that will remain even when it has a dealer network.

Lucid

Nationality: USA

Coming to Britain: 2023

The Lucid Air made its UK debut last month and set plenty of tongues wagging in the process.

The sleek all-electric luxury saloon car - the first model from the American brand - was driven on the hill course at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Piloted by Top Gear's former Stig, Ben Collins, it whooshed up the course in 50.78 seconds and was beaten only by racing machines rather than family motors you can buy for the road.

Bosses say the first examples for the European market will go on sale in Germany first from this month and then right-hand drive examples for UK customers likely from the start of the new year before it expands into China in 2023.

It will be priced from around £60,000 and go into direct competition with the Tesla Model S and Mercedes EQS and offer plenty of performance incentives to make motorists consider it. That includes a range of up to 520 miles and cars packing up to 1,100bhp that will be able to sprint to 60mph in around 2.5 seconds.

Delays for its arrival are likely, too. The brand has said it has received in excess of 25,000 global orders so far, though the semiconductor and battery shortage has reportedly caused production restrictions.

Lynk & Co

Nationality: Sweden/China

Coming to Britain: 2023

Like Polestar, Lynk & Co is a Swedish-founded brand under the Chinese Geely's banner, which already boasts Volvo, Polestar and the rejuvenated Lotus marque.

Its first car likely to go on sale won't be fully electric though. The 01 SUV is a petrol-electric plug-in hybrid that's already on sale in seven European countries, including Germany, Spain and Sweden. It says it should enter the UK market next year.

What makes the business different isn't its cars but how you own them - or not, as the case is. While you can buy its vehicles outright, around 95 per cent of its vehicles are on subscription, costing around €500 a month includes insurance, tax and maintenance and covers the driver for up to 1,250 kilometres (776 miles) each month.

It's super flexible too, with customers able to cancel the subscription on a monthly basis.

It is unlikely to have any dealership either with an online-only service.

Fisker

Nationality: USA

Coming to Britain: 2023

Californian-based car maker Fisker is going to take the UK by storm next year when it introduces its first fully-electric family model to our shores with a pretty reasonable price tag.

The Ocean SUV will go into direct competition with the Tesla Model Y when it arrives here early in 2023, offering a starting price just under £35,000 - around £23,000 less than Elon Musk's compact crossover.

Like Lynk & Co, the Ocean will be available for outright purchase via Fisker, or ran on a subscription basis through Onto, which is already available in the UK and offers a pay-month service covering charging, insurance, servicing and other running costs.

The Ocean with the cheapest providing a claimed range of 275 miles and will cost £34,990, though there are two other specifications likely available to UK customers with prices up to £60,000 and boosting range to 390 miles.

Standing it apart from rivals is the option of two different battery materials - lithium-ion for the entry model and nickel-manganese-cobalt cells for the longer-range all-wheel drive examples. It is also the first car to be sold in Britain with a 'Doggie Window' - a rear windscreen panel that can be dropped down like a side window to give pooches in the boot some fresh air.

Models produced for our market are being built at Magna’s factory in Graz, Austria. You can read more about the Fisker Ocean here.

NIO

Nationality: China

Coming to Britain: TBC (already sold in Norway)

Another Chinese car brand that is likely to arrive on the UK scene is NIO.

The exclusively-electric vehicle manufacturer already has a line-up of premium models, including the ET7 saloon and ES8 SUV - both of which have already gone on sale in Norway, which has the highest market share of EVs anywhere in Europe. In fact, NIO has recently broken into the top 25 best-selling brands in the Scandinavian country.

That said, there is no confirmed date for when - or if - NIO will sell cars to Britons, though it has hinted that the move is under consideration if it believes there would be enough demand for its cars.

Based on the price in Norway, Britons would expect to have to fork out between £50,000 and £60,000 for the two models already on sale there.

The company is one of many that continues to explore creating a battery-swap network, with plans for dedicated battery stations where owners can drive up and switch their depleted packs for one that's fully charged. By 2025, it wants to have 4,000 of these stations worldwide.

BYD

Nationality: China

Coming to Britain: TBC (already sold in Europe and supplies electric buses for London)

While Britons might not be all that familiar with BYD, it's a household name elsewhere in the world. In fact, it's now officially the biggest global EV seller, having overtaken Tesla in the first half of 2022.

Short forBuild Your Dreams, the brand BYD is backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway among others and is China's biggest electric car manufacturers. And so far this year, it has delivered more battery-powered models than anyone else globally, with 640,000 sales in the first six months of the year compared to Tesla in second place with 564,000. BYD bosses said it is poised to sell 1.5 million EVs this year.

While it isn't selling passenger cars in the UK - yet - it has successfully launched elsewhere in Europe, entering the market with the Tang SUV going on sale in Norway and has since been made available in other countries across the Channel.

That's not to say we don't already have BYD cars on our roads. Almost a decade ago it supplied a small pool of private hire vehicles and is also a supplier of electric buses in London. Now that it's the world's biggest EV maker, the possibility of branching further into Britain isn't far fetched.

XPeng

Nationality: China

Coming to Britain: TBC (already sold in Europe)

Another Chinese brand with grand ambitions of entering the UK market is XPeng, which already sells electric cars to some of our European neighbours.

That includes the P5 saloon - a rival to the Tesla Model 3. It is already available to order in Norway and has also been launched in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands as part of its break into Europe. The company says its aim is to be selling EVs in the UK within three years, so around 2025 and will likely have pop-up showrooms, like its Westfield store recently opened in Holland.

The P5 has an impressive performance spec, including a range of 289 miles from its 66kWh battery, based on the official WLTP test. It's also very hi-tech, featuring a massive 15.6-inch infotainment screen in the cabin and a sophisticated self-driving system. While the latter is accessible for its native market, the feature is deleted from European-spec cars until the system is legal for use on our roads.

The larger P7 saloon is also expected to be made available in Europe too, which has the same autonomous driving capabilities, a longer range and a claimed sprint time to 62mph in 4.5 seconds.

Rivian

Nationality: USA

Coming to Britain: TBC

Rivian is an all-electric brand that has just started a serious assault on its home market in the US.

It sells an all-electric pick-up called the R1T, and a passenger SUV version called the R1S. Both have a claimed range of around 315 miles. They aren't cheap, with prices starting around $67,500 for the R1T, which at current exchange rates is around £56,000.

With trucks big business in America, the relative newcomer has gazumped the Tesla Cybertruck and joins the Ford F150 Lightning as a battery-only workhorse. However, there might not be the same level of demand in the UK, where pick-up remain relatively niche.

Plan are to sell in Europe soon and bosses previously said they intend to come to the UK with right-hand-drive cars in 2022, though those intentions appear to have been delayed, for the meantime at least.

Faraday Future

Nationality:China/USA

Coming to Britain: TBC

Faraday Future is another US-based electric car start-up, though one that was originally founded in China. The brand name is a reference to English scientist Michael Faraday, the man whodiscovered electromagnetic induction.

Financial struggles have seriously restricted the company's intentions to enter the market but this year finally unveiled the FF91 luxury model that's been in the pipeline for almost have a decade - though extra funding may be needed soon, according to Chief Executive Officer Carsten Breitfeld.

The plan is to commence deliveries of the FF91 in the third quarter this year and the maker expects to rattle out between 6,000 and 8,000 cars in 2023.A UK launch looks unlikely for quite some time.