The inaugural What Car? Electric Car Awards, which will be held in association with Myenergi, will take place in August, following an unprecedented rise in the interest in more environmentally-friendly cars among consumers during lockdown.

The standalone event from What Car?, Britain’s leading consumer champion and new car buying platform, will name the best pure electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models in a variety of buyer-friendly categories in order to support consumers looking to make the decision to switch to an electrified vehicle.

Announcing the Awards, What Car? Editor Steve Huntingford said: “The volume of electric and plug-in hybrid launches has increased dramatically in the last year. More choice is fantastic news for the growing number of prospective electric vehicle buyers – but it also makes our role in helping them choose the right car more important than ever.

“While our traditional Car of the Year Awards in January will continue to highlight the very best cars on sale, including all electric vehicles, we feel the time is right to hold a separate event that gives definitive answers as to the best electric and plug-in hybrid cars across individual categories, so that we can support the increasing number of buyers on that journey.”

During lockdown, What Car? polled its online audience weekly on their attitudes to car buying, including whether their views on cleaner motoring were changing. From a poll of more than 6000 would-be car buyers a peak of 26% said they were more inclined to buy an EV or PHEV model as a result of the changed environment they were living in.

The poll insight was backed by What Car?’s own online search data, which revealed the Tesla Model 3 was, at times, the most searched-for car on its website during lockdown, joined in the top 10 regularly by the Kia e-Niro and Hyundai Kona Electric. What Car?’s online stories listing the best electric and hybrid cars on sale are also out-performing other areas of the site in their growth, with the latter now the second most read story online.

The best electric cars will be named in the following categories: Value car, Small car, Family car, Family SUV, Luxury SUV, Executive car, Performance car and Seven-seater.

The best plug-in hybrids will be named in these categories: Family car, Family SUV, Large SUV, Luxury SUV, Estate car, Executive car, Performance car and Seven-seater.

The best overall electric and plug-in hybrid cars from across every category will be named at the What Car? Car of the Year Awards in January as usual.

About What Car? 

What Car? is the UK’s leading consumer motoring champion and new car buying platform, reaching car buyers through its magazine, website, video and social media channels. It has been helping Britain’s car buyers to make purchasing decisions for more than 45 years and its reviews are widely regarded as the most comprehensive source of new car advice.

Whatcar.com offers verdicts and data on every new car, and has won numerous awards and accolades. It attracts 2.2m unique users and more than 12m page impressions every month.

In recent years What Car? has invested heavily in its digital infrastructure with the development of its new ecommerce platform, allowing users to act on the trusted advice What Car? offers by chatting online to car dealers through the website. Users are guaranteed to be able to buy their chosen car at What Car?’s Target Price discount, which is established by mystery shoppers and updated daily.

What Car? has more than 5.5 million monthly points of contact with its audience on the move, at work, at home and at the crucial point of sale. It is the top performing monthly on the UK newsstand in the motoring category.

About Target Price

Target Price is unique to What Car? and set using intelligence gathered by a team of mystery shoppers, who negotiate daily to find the best new car deals available across the UK. The published deals are then guaranteed – and often beaten – by retailers selling cars through whatcar.com.

Target Price is based on a cash deal and does not include elements like finance incentives or trade-in considerations. What Car? has also introduced Target PCP finance deals, which show what buyers should expect to pay per month for their new car.

The deals are based on a cash deal and do not include elements like finance incentives or trade in considerations. The deals change on a weekly basis.

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Media Enquiries: 

Roxanne Newell, Communications Manager – communications@haymarket.com

For further media information please contact Performance Communications:

Sam Wilkinson at Performance Communications on 0208 541 3434.

sam@performancecomms.com