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Here is every new or updated model eligible for the Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Urban Electric Vehicle Under $100K category.
Drive Car of the Year 2025
Now in its 20th year, the annual Drive Car of the Year awards program continues to be the Australian new car buyer’s most-trusted advisor.
At Drive, we test drive more than 200 new cars every year, evaluating each against its innate promise to sort the best from the rest. We divide the 400-plus new passenger cars, SUVs, 4WDs and utes into 19 price-banded categories focused on the end-user. Then we analyse the strengths and weaknesses of every car to find the cream of the automotive crop.
Drive Car of the Year 2025 is a go!
Drive Car of the Year 2025 – Best Urban Electric Vehicle Under $100K
Few environments should suit an electric car better than an urban area, where driving distances are short – and many buyers have access to easy, affordable, off-street charging.
Urban Electric Vehicle Under $100K is one of the most diverse categories in the Drive Car of the Year 2025 field.
While Electric Vehicle Under $50K focuses on the budget end of the market, and Family Electric Vehicle Under $100K majors on space and ultimate practicality, this category looks for stylish, cutting-edge all-rounders.
They shouldn't be overtly family-focused, nor designed primarily for high-performance driving, but they should be priced between $50,000 and $100,000 before on-road costs.
Introduced last year, this category's maiden winner was the Tesla Model 3, fresh off a heavy facelift that brought an updated exterior, plusher interior, more comfortable driving experience, and longer driving range.
The Model 3 is unchanged in this category for 2025, although during 2024 Tesla introduced the Model 3 Performance. Another significant change has been a lower price – only sharpening the value equation.
It will face off against one of the broadest fields in this year's awards, with everything from pint-sized city hatchbacks to luxury executive sedans.
The Volvo EX30 didn't arrive in time for the 2024 awards, so it joins the mix for 2025, alongside models from new brands to Australia such as the return of the Smart brand, offering two very different cars to its city cars of old, with the #1 and #3 SUVs.
The Tesla's closest challenger is the new entry-level version of the BMW i4, the eDrive 35, a new powertrain variant that brings the model under the $91,387 Luxury Car Tax threshold to unlock tax concessions for novated leasing customers.
Other contenders range from the Abarth 500e city hot hatch, to the new-generation Mini Cooper hatch and Countryman SUV electric vehicles.
Which cars are eligible for this category?
Drive’s rules require that, for a car to be eligible, it must:
| Contenders | Not here in time |
| – Cars that are all-new or significantly updated since they last contested Drive Car of the Year. – New categories are open to all cars that fit category requirements. – Last year’s winner is an automatic inclusion. | – These cars meet category requirements, but are not due to arrive in time for Drive Car of the Year 2025 judging. |
| Abarth 500e Audi Q4 e-tron BMW iX2 BMW i4 eDrive 35 Jeep Avenger Mercedes-Benz EQA Mini Cooper Electric Mini Countryman Electric Renault Megane E-Tech Smart #1 Smart #3 Tesla Model 3 (defending) Volvo EX30 Zeekr X | None |
The winner of the 2025 Drive Car of the Year – Best Urban Electric Vehicle Under $100K will be announced in February 2025.
Before then, we will announce the finalists, all of which deliver status and capability to electric-car buyers who want a cutting-edge everyday vehicle.
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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
